Bitcoin began 2018 valued at £10,603 ($13,422) having started to fall from its record high. The BTC price has since plummeted, dragging the majority of the crypto market down with it. Bitcoin is currently valued at £3,036 ($3,844) at 1pm GMT on Saturday, December 22.
Bitcoin cash (BCH) founder Calvin Ayre believes the crypto will overthrow BTC’s market capitalisation, rendering it all but worthless.
The billionaire said: “I’m afraid I am predicting it to go to zero value as it has no utility, it does not do anything and they intentionally are anti-scaling bitcoin, the technology and economic model, are alive and well with Bitcoin Satoshi Vision and is going to have an amazing year.”
Another bitcoin pessimist Nouriel Roubini went even further in June, saying: “Blockchain is the most over-hyped — and least useful — technology in human history.
“No asset class in human history has ever experienced such a rapid boom and total utter bust and implosion.”
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In terms of a definite prediction, Roubini claims “in due time” Bitcoin will be worth “close to zero”.
Some industry insiders are more sanguine about the cryptocurrency’s prospects.
Mike Novogratz CEO and founder of Galaxy Digital recently stated his belief the Bitcoin price will hit an all-time high before the end of 2019.
He is joined in this confident attitude by Sonny Singh, Chief Creative Officer of BitPay, who believes BTC will surpass its former $20,000 price ceiling within the next 12 months.
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And even more optimistic are Fundstrat executives Tom Lee and Sam Doctor who have gone on record with their view that a price of £28,440 ($36,000) is realistic to expect in 2019.
This significant price hike will require enormous institutional capital inflows, which are increasingly realistic due to the launch various trading desks, in addition to crypto custodial solutions.
David Thomas, director of the GlobalBlock digital asset brokerage recently discussed why that institutions are hesitant about taking up positions in crypto.
Mr Thomas said: “If we look at previous trends it takes on average around 67 weeks for bitcoin to recover and proceed to new all-time highs.
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“If you follow this logic, then bitcoin would be heading towards US $20,000 in the second quarter of 2019.”
But Mr Thomas does not believe this happen this time because of “bruised investor base after this year.
He therefore reined in his 2019 price call, saying: “With positive news, ETFs (performance trackers) and regulation, we believe bitcoin will recover to the US $8000 to $10000 levels during 2019 which given where it is today would on balance be a decent year.”