Bitcoin’s price plummeted in the last two weeks November, dragging the wider cryptocurrency market down with it. A total of 17 percent was wiped from bitcoin’s value in the space of 13 days, with its price falling to £2,849 ($3,640) by November 26, according to CoinDesk.com. But the imminent launch of companies dedicated to bringing bitcoin to institutional investors could be the catalyst for a crypto revival.
Fidelity last month announced its plans to launch a company dedicated to bringing cryptocurrencies to institutional investors.
And intercontinental exchange-backed cryptocurrency platform Bakkt is also expected to pour enough cash into cryptocurrencies market to trigger a bull run in the first quarter of 2019.
Sonny Singh, chief operating officer of US crypto payments processor BitPay, believes these Fidelity and Bakkt could help transform bitcoin’s fortunes.
Mr Singh said: “Around the world, you’re seeing adoption of bitcoin and cryptocurrency products.
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“There are different use cases all over the world.
“If these traditional incumbents launch their products as expected you’d see a price of maybe around $15,000 to $20,000 (£11,691 to £15,586) per bitcoin by the end of next year, but that depends when these products are launched because nothing moves fast in fintech.”
Fidelity will provide a cryptocurrency trading platform and institutional advising services, in a move to align with bitcoin’s continual trading cycle.
Fidelity Investments provides financial services for £5.61trillion ($7.2trillion) in customer assets and provides clearing, custody and investment services for tens of thousands of institutional advisory firms and brokers.
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But the asset manager has until now limited its cryptocurrency exposure to a few peripheral services.
With Fidelity Digital Asset’s first customers now showing interest, and general availability scheduled for early 2019, the launch marks the biggest push into cryptocurrency by an institutional asset manager.
“This is a recognition that there is institutional demand for these assets as a class,” says Tom Jessop, founding head of Fidelity Digital Assets.
“Family offices, hedge funds, other sophisticated investors, are starting to think seriously about this space.”
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Bitcoin’s price has bounced back in the last few days, following a fortnight of terrible performance.
The value of bitcoin and cryptocurrency plummeted to lows of around £3,000, causing some to fear the market was about to crash completely.
But the price has now spiked back up by almost 10 percent, putting it on course for its best day since the second quarter of 2018.
Some experts even suggested in the midst of that crash that the performance was simply a blip rather than a more fundamental change in cryptocurrency’s value.
The plunge meant that bitcoin lost a third of its value in two weeks, with no clear reason.
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