Despite a shaky few months with hundreds of billions wiped off the total cryptocurrency market earlier this week experts are predicting a rebound with the market to bounce back with interest.
Experts warned the total value could break the trillion-dollar mark before the year is out.
Thomas Glucksmann of cryptocurrency exchange Gatecoin predicted a “rebound” to “all new highs”, which bitcoin value rising from around $7,000 to $50,000.
He told CNBC: “Increasing regulatory recognition of cryptocurrency exchanges, the entrance of institutional capital and major technology developments will contribute to the market’s rebound and push cryptocurrency prices to all new highs this year.
“There is no reason why we couldn’t see bitcoin pushing $50,000 by December.”
And cryptocurrency is due a “bull run” even greater than last year’s stratospheric surge, according to the CEO of Outlier Ventures. A bull run refers to a market in which prices keep rising and rising.
Jamie Burke told CNBC: “We believe after February the market will likely go on a bull run comparative if not greater than last year potentially reaching the trillion-dollar mark before a proper crypto winter sets in where the market becomes more focused on proper market fundamentals.”
Despite the positive predictions, others claim the bitcoin bubble has well and truly burst after a series of banks imposed a ban on credit cards being used to purchase cryptocurrencies.
Fran Boait, from campaign group Positive Money, supports the decision by banks such as Lloyds and Bank of America and JP Morgan to issue bans on buying digital currencies.
Ms Boait said: “If you look at the actual trajectory of bitcoin since around 2011 when it first came on the scene.
“The real hype and hysteria that we have seen that the rate of growth in the last year really, and then the fall again is unprecedented.
“You know, up to £14,000 at its peak and we are already down £5,500 after just in a month.
“So, it’s looking like this is definitely a bitcoin bubble bursting and unlikely to happen on this scale again.”
Bitcoin rallied from three-month lows below $6,000 in choppy trading on Tuesday, as worries lingered about a global regulatory clampdown and moves by banks to crack down on the cryptocurrency.
On the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange, bitcoin hit $5,920, its lowest since mid-November, before recovering to above $8,000. It hit a high of $8,150 and was last at $7,922.79 in late trading in New York, up nearly 15 percent on the day.
Bitcoin was up to $8,288.69 in early US trading today.