At press time, the father of cryptocurrency is trading for just over $5,130. This marks a bit of a fall since our last price piece, when bitcoin had hit a new high of roughly $5,500.
It has certainly been something of an up-and-down game for bitcoin over the past few months, though for the most part, it appears to have solidified its position at the top of the financial ladder. Following a lengthy trading period in the mid-$3,000 range, bitcoin ultimately shot up beyond $5,000 in early April of this year. While there have been some small stumbles along the way, the currency has managed to retain its position above this line for the past several weeks.
Chart by alanmasters
In other words, bitcoin is keeping up its momentum and withstanding the tests the bears seek to throw at it.
Bitcoin bull and Fundstrat analyst Tom Lee is at it again, predicting that bitcoin will spike to new all-time highs in the year 2020. Among the reasons he suggests 2020 as “the year for bitcoin” include the halving set to take place in approximately 390 days, and the fact that many third-world nations – particularly Venezuela and Turkey – have increased their usage of the cryptocurrency.
While the idea of bitcoin spiking beyond $20,000 (its previous all-time high set in December 2017) is certainly exciting, one must consider where this idea is coming from. Lee, with all respect, has had just as much failure in predicting bitcoin’s future price moves as he does success. In 2018, a year he calls “terrible” for bitcoin, Lee predicted that the price would reach $20,000, then lowered his prediction to $15,000 when we reached the latter half and things still looked dreary.
2018 ultimately ended on a rough note, with bitcoin losing more than 80 percent of its value and trading for less than $3,500 by mid-November.
That’s not to say, however, that Lee won’t be correct this time around. In truth, higher trading volumes in developing nations is likely to stir the currency’s pot a little further. Granted the trading momentum can remain intact, we may see some price spikes throughout the year and into 2020.
In addition, we are now noticing several steps initiated by the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) to push Bakkt’s approval and release date. Among them is the platform’s acquiring of a crypto custodian service known as the Digital Asset Custody Company. It’s also working to ensure Bakkt is fully registered within the state of New York. This includes obtaining the infamous BitLicense.
CEO of Bakkt Kelly Loeffler comments:
There is no pivot. From the ground up, what ICE has been building for two years is the safest version of a custody solution for digital assets.
Bitcoin Charts by TradingView
Image(s): Shutterstock.com
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