Saxo Bank says that Bitcoin's price trajectory will probably continue to move upwards throughout most of 2018, before plunging dramatically after topping the $60,000 threshold. The institution believes that Bitcoin will reach a $1 trillion market cap globally, after which time it will drop in price substantially to around $1,000 per coin.
This prediction stems from the belief that the Kremlin will eventually crack down on the mining of Bitcoin, as it shifts focus away from the cryptocurrency in an effort "to keep more Russian capital onshore." Saxo also predicts that China, which is currently the world leader in Bitcoin mining and holdings, will eventually launch its own Bitcoin alternative, which could set Bitcoin on a downward price spiral.
As is usually the case, the "heavy hand of state intervention," Saxo says, will eventually interfere in the cryptocurrency markets to such an extent that price volatility will increase. Should this occur, the speculative forces driving the price of Bitcoin ever upwards will take a major hit, which could leave Bitcoin in dire straits.
It's a "financial bubble bigger than the tulip craze," says veteran investor Eric Schiffer, a believer in the theory that Bitcoin is shaping up to become the biggest financial disaster of the 21st century. "I think bitcoin is a 'tower of death.' It is going to result in the imminent death of your investment – a thermonuclear death."
However, not everyone agrees with this assessment. Jordan Hiscott, chief trader at Ayondo Markets, says that it is unlikely that Bitcoin will ever see the type of dramatic crash that Saxo is predicting. While he has issued warnings in the past that people should make sure they know what they're doing before entering the cryptocurrency market, Hiscott has a much less apocalyptic perspective.
"For good investment options, find trusted companies that would do that for you or look for a commodity with actual underlying value," he's quoted as saying.
Federal regulators, on the other hand, lean more towards the view of Saxo Bank. Joe Borg, president of The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), told USA Today that the average Joe shouldn't expect to become a millionaire by investing in Bitcoin.
"It's a mania – just like the dot-com bubble," Borg stated to media sources, adding that "more millionaires are being created from bitcoin than any other source. ...
"It's the tulip mania — except you don't have any tulips. It's just computer code."
Despite its meteoric rise in price throughout 2017, Bitcoin could end up being a one-hit wonder, Borg warns. With people assuming that it's only going to continue going up in price and never dip down, Bitcoin could become the catalyst through which many unsuspecting investors lose it all – especially those who've mortgaged their homes and risked other life assets just to purchase Bitcoin.
"Bitcoin, once started as a really cool innovation for decentralized currency, has now become a purely speculative mania market rooted in 'tulip bulb' delusion," claims Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, another Bitcoin skeptic who believes that people who buy into Bitcoin are setting themselves up for financial failure.
"In the same way that transgenderism advocates now deny the existence of genetics and the laws of physical biology, Bitcoin cultists now believe the laws of economics and finance can be waived away through mere wishful thinking."
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