Bitcoin at $100,000 in 2021? Outrageous to some, a no-brainer for backers

Bitcoin investors, which include top hedge funds and money managers, are betting the virtual currency could more than quintuple to as high as $100,000 in a year. It’s a wager that has drawn eye-rolls from skeptics who believe the volatile cryptocurrency is a speculative asset rather than a store of value like gold.

Since January, bitcoin has gained 160%, bolstered by strong institutional demand as well as scarcity as payment companies such as Square and Paypal buy it on behalf of customers. Bitcoin is within sight of its all-time peak of just under ,000 hit in December 2017. It debuted in 2011 at zero and was last trading at ,415.

Going from ,000 to 0,000 in one year is not a stretch, Brian Estes, chief investment officer at hedge fund Off the Chain Capital, said. “I have seen bitcoin go up 10X, 20X, 30X in a year. So going up 5X is not a big deal.”

Estes predicts bitcoin could hit between 0,000 and 8,000 by end-2021, based on a model that utilizes the stock-to-flow ratio measuring the scarcity of commodities like gold. That model, he said, has a 94% correlation with the price of bitcoin. Citi technical analyst Tom Fitzpatrick said in a note last week that bitcoin could climb as high as 8,000 by the end of next year, citing its limited supply, ease of movement across borders, and opaque ownership.

The so-called whale index, which counts addresses or wallets holding at least 1,000 bitcoins, is at an all-time high, said Phil Bonello, research director at digital asset manager Grayscale. Bonello said more than 2,200 addresses were linked to large bitcoin holders, up 37% from 1,600 in 2018, suggesting that institutional money has stormed in.

Bitcoin at 0,000 in 2021? Outrageous to some, a no-brainer for backers, Reuters, Nov 24