A year of high
There’s no doubt about it: Bitcoin has proven itself to be the most resilient crypto currency around, overcoming a number of hurdles, including hard forks, in 2017. The currency hit a new record price of $19,796 per coin on December 17, before falling to its current price of $14,410 (at the time of writing). Naturally, the record year has observers rife with speculation about the future of bit coin.
Bitcoin Chaos
Certainly some experts make the bitcoin prediction that the cryptocurrency has huge potential for further growth in the coming years. Those who are enthusiastic about the concept of
digital payment system believe that it will inevitably reach new heights due to its finite nature. Only 21 million bitcoins can ever be produced, and this figure is rapidly approaching.
Experts predict that, a year from now, the price of bitcoin could grow more than triple its record value. “Bitcoin can reach $60,000 by December 2018,” Marvin Dumont, a senior editor for Bitcoin.com, told Futurism.
Bullish on bitcoin
Jeremy Epstein, the CEO of block chain startups marketing firm Never Stop Marketing, is also extremely optimistic about the future of bit coin, indicating that the crypto coin could reach a value of $250,000 in the next five years. However, even this individual with a massive vested interest in Bitcoin acknowledged that the next few years will be “a coin toss between huge success and total failure “for the cryptocurrency.
Bubble Warning
While the growth of bitcoin is undeniable, it’s perhaps the same trend that makes some less excited about the cryptocurrency. Critics have often referred to bitcoin as a bubble, and one that could burst with potentially extreme consequences. Bitcoin prediction, and the suggestion that investors will ultimately lose a lot of money if they are not extremely careful.
Weighing in the current cryptocurrency craze, billionaire investor Warrant Buffett said that he believes the future of bitcoin is bleak. “In terms of cryptocurrency, generally, I can say with almost certainty that they will come to a bad ending,” Buffet told to CNBC on “Squawk Box” Wednesday.
Indeed the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway is famous because so many of his financial predictions have come true. That’s how he ended up with a net worth of over $81 billion and the nickname “The Oracle of Omaha.”
Armindo Araujo, the head of finance, planning and control at French corporate and investment bank NATIXIS, is one of many experts in the finance trade who believes that the cryptocurrency is in a massive bubble. Araujo also acknowledged that the demand for bitcoin will probably increase in the near future, but that ultimately the digital payment system is heading for massive correction.
Ethereum Rival
It is this sort of bitcoin prediction which has made the digital currency such a hot topic in 2017, and this is set to continue into the New Year as well. But another major player in the niche next year will be Ethereum, already established as a viable alternative to bitcoin.
Certainly, 2017 was a strong year for Ethereum as well, and this has led to some strong examples of Ethereum prediction for 2018. CEO of cryptocurrency social network Invest Feed, believes that the cryptocurrency will continue to make gains next year.
“The amount of transactions the Ethereum network has been processing recently has only been an indicator of increased adoption rates. With the amount of work being put into Ethereum in relation to addressing its scalability, the sky is the limit,” Chernesky told the international Business Times.
With the number of Ethereum transactions to continue rapidly, it seems that the potential for this cryptocurrency contender is pretty high in 2018. Indeed, Geoffery Smith, a Finance Professor at W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, is another market observer with a positive Ethereum prediction.
“I think the market will continue to grow as people find more uses for blockchain technology and digital currency. The only concern I have is that the price volatility needs to settle down,” Smith commented.
Market Skepticism
However, many experts are skeptical about the potential of both bitcoin and ethereum, suggesting that the ongoing volatility and crippling government legislation could scupper the future of both digital currencies. It is certainly the case that several countries have already legislated against cryptocurrency, and it can begin to seriously impact on the value of the payment method in the foreseeable future.
This hasn’t prevented tech investment firm Profit Confidential from making a big Ethereum prediction, though. $1000 is the target for the digital currency in 2018, with investing PR making the Ethereum prediction that the cryptocurrency could reach $5000, and the bitcoin prediction that it could be superseded by Ethereum as the market leader.
Conclusion
The scene of digital currencies is a very nascent one, and it still has a long way to go. The general outlook is quite bullish, especially when it comes to the two main contenders: Bitcoin and Ether. Furthermore, the outlook on Ether is even more positive than that of Bitcoin.
The optimists believe that Ether should experience a positive increase within the coming couple of years, letting it pass Bitcoin on the way. Nevertheless, the space is fraught with problems that don’t have an easy fix. And some skeptics worry about what these problems could mean for the entire space.
