Cryptocurrency predictions December 2018 report
Our monthly survey of fintech leaders on top and trending coins
Since bitcoin set sail in 2009, cryptocurrencies have made waves across the globe. The big question on everyone’s lips: What will these coins be worth in the future?
We’ve set out to ask a panel of fintech leaders for their 2019 cryptocurrency predictions, and we’ll release a new set of insights every month.
Read on for 2019 cryptocurrency predictions from finder.com’s panellists.
This month
For our December 2018 report, nine panellists predict the movements of 11 coins. These include the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap — bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), XRP (XRP), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), EOS (EOS), Stellar Lumens (XLM), Litecoin (LTC), Cardano (ADA), Monero (XMR) and TRON (TRX) — as well as one of the three top trending coins, Binance Coin (BNB).
Many of our panellists talked about the difficulty in providing predictions this month, following big shifts in the market toward the end of November. Accordingly, we did not include two top trending coins, Chainlink (LINK) and IOTA (MIOTA), in our analysis as panellists did not provide predictions for them. Opinions are solely those of our panellists.
What about other up-and-coming coins this year? Check out our panellists’ comments on new coins at the end of this report.
Which coins are expected to see the highest growth?
Of the 11 coins, our panellists forecast that on average, Stellar Lumens and Cardano will both experience the greatest price growth this month at 100%, followed by bitcoin at 81%.
Three coins are expected to see a drop in prices, with Binance Coin expected to fall by 32%, Litecoin by 13% and TRON by 12%.
| Cryptocurrency | Current price per unit as of 27 Nov 2018 (USD) | Price prediction on 1 Jan 2019 (USD) | % change to 1 Jan 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin | $3,740.11 | $6,778 | 81% |
| Bitcoin Cash | $181.43 | $207 | 14% |
| Binance Coin | $4.85 | $3.31 | -32% |
| Cardano | $0.03 | $0.06 | 100% |
| Ether | $105.57 | $141 | 34% |
| EOS | $3.12 | $3.75 | 20% |
| Litecoin | $29.24 | $25.30 | -13% |
| Monero | $53.31 | $55 | 3% |
| XRP | $0.35 | $0.36 | 3% |
| Stellar Lumens | $0.14 | $0.28 | 100% |
| TRON | $0.01 | $0.01 | -12% |
In regard to the forecast market capitalisations for bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash and Ether — the only coins of the 10 with the reported number of coins available by 31 December 2018 — our panel predicts that Ether will see the greatest increase in market cap growth by the end of 2019 (350%).
Bitcoin Cash follows with a 233% increase, while bitcoin is expected to increase by 139%.
Our panellists
Craig Cobb
TRADERCOBB.COM
Trader and Founder
@TraderCobb
Craig Cobb runs TraderCobb.com, which educates people on crypto trading in a way that’s simple, easy and logical. He previously worked as a trader and mentor for global company Trade With Precision.
Fred Schebesta
FINDER.COM & HIVEEX.COM
CEO and Co-founder
@Schebesta
Fred Schebesta is co-founder of personal finance comparison website finder.com and crypto brokerage HiveEx.com. Fred is an award-winning entrepreneur, author, mentor, cryptocurrency advocate and regular keynote speaker.
Miko Matsumura
EVERCOIN
Co-founder
@mikojava
Miko Matsumura founded crypto exchange Evercoin and is a general partner with Gumi Cryptos Capital. He is also a venture partner with BitBull Capital and an advisor to Arrington XRP Capital.
Alisa Gus
WISHKNISH
CEO
@WhampaChick
Alisa Gus is CEO of a blockchain gamified social market network. Its goal is to help communities grow and stay engaged through blockchain technology. She is also a founding member of the DC Digital Economy Hub.
Desmond Marshall
ROUGE VENTURES
Founder
+ Full bio
Desmond Marshall is founder of Rouge Ventures, Asia’s top investor platform. He’s also a new tech blockchain expert and ICO advisor. He was previously managing director for global fintech innovation lab The Floor.
Joerg Molt
SATOSHI SCHOOL
Bitcoin co-founder
@satoshischool1
Joerg Molt is CEO of the Satoshi School 1-10 Mitglieder in Bavaria, Germany. He launched the Satoshi School to teach people the basics of blockchain technology and how they can benefit from the speed and efficiency of cryptocurrency.
Toby Allen
AKUNA CAPITAL>IO
Senior Partner
+ Full bio
Toby Allen is senior partner at Akuna Capital based in Chicago, the options capital of the world. He was previously a trader at Optiver and an analyst at JT Campbell & Co.
Muneeb Khan
BIT TRADE
Head of Trading and Treasury
@MuneebKhanAU
Muneeb is head of trading at Bit Trade, a digital currency exchange and blockchain consultancy. He was previously a finance director at Ria Financial, a global leader in remittance services.
Sarah Bergstrand
BITBULL CAPITAL
COO
@i_am_sarahb
Sarah Bergstrand is COO of BitBull Capital, a crypto hedge fund with a focus on research into crypto markets and asset investment. Her previous experience includes COO of a venture-backed tech company.
Bitcoin (BTC)
Current price per unit
as of 27 Nov 2018 in USD
$6,778 +81%
Average price prediction
for 1 Jan 2019 in USD
$5,450
Median price prediction
for 1 Jan 2019 in USD
As of 27 November 2018, bitcoin’s price was $3,740. Bitcoin’s co-founder at Satoshi School, Joerg Molt, offers the highest prediction for 1 January 2019, with a prediction of $20,000.
However, other panellists’ predictions more closely align with the current pricing landscape, with two panellists predicting BTC at or below $3,000 for the first of the month of 2019.
TRADERCOBB.COM
1 Jan 2019
MY PREDICTION
“It is literally the hardest market to call right now with the volatility. I don’t think $3,000 is off the cards, as support lies there. Happy to trade short and see what happens.”
EVERCOIN
1 Jan 2019
MY PREDICTION
“I am not generally prone to price-timing predictions. Broadly speaking, I think there will be a next wave of cryptographic assets, and these will be driven by hard economic numbers and use cases. There will be more successful crypto economies than there were in the first wave, of which there were virtually none. The infrastructure is maturing, but it will take time.”
WISHKNISH
1 Jan 2019
MY PREDICTION
“Am I ever eating crow — in addition to turkey! The drop was not expected around here, will admit as much. And will now not be surprised if it plays with the threatened support at $1,500 before it settles down. Still, the fundamentals are promising, so I am hoping for the end-of-the-year rally — kind of like it’s showing today. Fingers crossed!”
BIT TRADE
1 Jan 2019
MY PREDICTION
“After trading through and closing below $5,775 on a weekly basis, the path of least resistance looks to be a move toward $3,000. We are in oversold territory at the moment, so we may get some minor rallies, but these are likely to be sold by the bears.”
SATOSHI SCHOOL
1 Jan 2019
MY PREDICTION
“BCH is dying in two altcoins, started by the ETP in Switzerland; the beginning of taxation in US, so people are starting to buy more bitcoin to reduce liquidity between December and the end of January; and the liquid network and lightning coming to mass adoption.”
ROUGE VENTURES
1 Jan 2019
MY PREDICTION
“ICO’s losing steam. Only the top five coins are worth looking into. Forking process separating views will be the cause if the coins fall. Any forking needs HV consensus among all, and lobbying techniques should be mastered by these tech nerds. Bitcoin is the only coin that’s untouched by humans, which still makes it the most valuable crypto.”
AKUNA CAPITAL
1 Jan 2019
MY PREDICTION
“Lower daily/weekly volatility will persist in 2019 as the asset continues to mature.”
BITBULL
1 Jan 2019
MY PREDICTION
“Historically, bitcoin drops around Thanksgiving and rises to an all-time high in December. I do not foresee that happening this year. I believe it will rise from its current price, but not to an all-time high, like we have seen before.”
FINDER and HIVEEX.COM
1 Jan 2019
Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
Current price per unit
as of 27 Nov 2018 in USD
$207 +14%
Average price prediction
for 1 Jan 2019 in USD
$200
Median price prediction
for 1 Jan 2019 in USD
As of 27 November 2018, Bitcoin Cash’s price was $181.43. Bitcoin Cash is expected to increase by 14% to $207 by 1 January 2019.
BitBull Capital CEO Sarah Bergstrand gives one of the lowest predictions ($200) for 1 January 2019. Referring to the recent fork, she says, “I think Bitcoin Cash has too much drama to survive in the top 20 for much longer.”
EVERCOIN
1 Jan 2019
MY PREDICTION
“Don’t bet against Roger Ver. This number is based on the idea that we will begin to see BCH used as cash around the world.”
BITBULL
1 Jan 2019
MY PREDICTION
“I think Bitcoin Cash has too much drama to survive in the top 20 for much longer.”
WISHKNISH
1 Jan 2019
MY PREDICTION
“The fork has not been good for it — and, in fact, has eaten up quite a bit of confidence and hash power. The mining farms in China are throwing the ASICs out as they are going bankrupt, which can only further slow down the recovery. And, well … did I mention I am still not a fan?”
Binance Coin (BNB)
Current price per unit
as of 27 Nov 2018 in USD
$3.31 -32%
Average price prediction
for 1 Jan 2019 in USD
$5
Median price prediction
for 1 Jan 2019 in USD
Binance Coin’s current price was $4.85 per unit as of 27 November 2018. BNB is expected to see the greatest drop by 1 January 2019, at 32%. However, it is expected to redeem itself over the next year, with a predicted value of $11 by the end of next year — a 127% increase.
Fred Schebesta, CEO and co-founder of Finder and HiveEx.com, predicts the value of BNB at $1.62 for 1 January 2019.
EVERCOIN
1 Jan 2019
MY PREDICTION
“Binance is a strong company. Their token burn mechanic will continue to support token price, as will their ecosystem development.”
FINDER.COM
1 Jan 2019
Cardano (ADA)
Current price per unit
as of 27 Nov 2018 in USD
$0.06 +100%
Average price prediction
for 1 Jan 2019 in USD
$0.04
Median price prediction
for 1 Jan 2019 in USD
As of 27 November 2018, Cardano was valued at $0.03 per unit. Cardano is expected to see a 100% increase to $0.06 by 1 January 2019.
Muneeb Khan gives the lowest predictions for ADA at $0.03 for 1 January 2019.
Other panellists are more optimistic. Fred Schebesta predicts a high $0.11 for 1 January 2019, while Alisa Gus predicts $0.04.
Alisa Gus says, “It’s good to see it functioning independently from Bitcoin’s ups and down, although I would prefer to see it bounce up better than that. Still, there’s room in the market for this kind of project, and the price point reflects that.”
FINDER.COM
1 Jan 2019
BIT TRADE
1 Jan 2019
EVERCOIN
1 Jan 2019
MY PREDICTION
“Another muscular ecosystem, this one has many deep ties to industry and enterprise. This one will do OK.”
WISHKNISH
1 Jan 2019
MY PREDICTION
“Did you know it is down only 2% from last year so far — despite the bearish market and its recent run of losses? It’s good to see it functioning independently from Bitcoin’s ups and down, although I would prefer to see it bounce up better than that. Still, there’s room in the market for this kind of project, and the price point reflects that.”
Ether (ETH)
Current price per unit
as of 27 Nov 2018 in USD
$141 +34%
Average price prediction
for 1 Jan 2019 in USD
$120
Median price prediction
for 1 Jan 2019 in USD
Ether’s price was $105.57 as of 27 November 2018. On average, Ether is projected to hit $141 by 1 January 2019. This equates to an increase of 34%.
The highest prediction for January ($250) comes from Rouge Ventures founder Desmond Marshall, though he adds that it depends on how the planned updates pan out.
He says, “Depends on how their new updates will be. The supporters are beginning to HV split ideas, and a risk of some group trying to hard fork seems imminent to affect the price.”
Muneeb Khan offers a more bearish prediction of $100 for 1 January. He explains, “Ethereum is currently trading at $136, which is a significant area of support. We may see a temporary bounce from here, but I see a move toward $100 on the cards, as BTC still looks weak and ETH will likely follow the same trajectory.”
EVERCOIN
1 Jan 2019
MY PREDICTION
“Don’t bet against Vitalik.”
WISHKNISH
1 Jan 2019
MY PREDICTION
“It is all on Bitcoin, isn’t it? If it rallies, so does the rest of the pack. Of the top five, Ethereum is most dependent on BTC’s performance (after Bitcoin Cash). And while I am hoping Casper changes all that, it’s not there yet.”
BITBULL
1 Jan 2019
MY PREDICTION
“Ether has taken a beating this year. I am hoping it will recover over the next few months.”
BIT TRADE
1 Jan 2019
MY PREDICTION
“Ethereum is currently trading at $136, which is a significant area of support. We may see a temporary bounce from here, but I see a move toward $100 on the cards, as BTC still looks weak and ETH will likely follow the same trajectory.”
FINDER.COM
1 Jan 2019
ROUGE VENTURES
1 Jan 2019
MY PREDICTION
“Depends on how their new updates will be. The supporters are beginning to HV split ideas, and a risk of some group trying to hard fork seems imminent to affect the price.”
AKUNA CAPITAL
1 Jan 2019
MY PREDICTION
“Best predictor of price is current price. Probably should have done the same for BTC.”
EOS (EOS)
Current price per unit
as of 27 Nov 2018 in USD
$3.75 +20%
Average price prediction
for 1 Jan 2019 in USD
$3
Median price prediction
for 1 Jan 2019 in USD
As of 27 November 2018, EOS’s price was $3.12 per coin. Our panellists predict EOS to see a slight increase of 20% by 1 January 2019.
Sarah Bergstrand predicts the highest value for 1 January 2019 at $7. She says, “EOS has a lot of great projects coming out in the next few months. I am hoping it will raise in value.”
WISHKNISH
1 Jan 2019
MY PREDICTION
“Quite a drop there from the highs of last summer, but the transactions are swimming along, especially in the gaming space. With that, and providing the BTC recovers, it should be cheerier in the EOS camp come Christmastime.”
FINDER.COM
1 Jan 2019
BITBULL
1 Jan 2019
MY PREDICTION
“EOS has a lot of great projects coming out in the next few months. I am hoping it will raise in value.”
BIT TRADE
1 Jan 2019
MY PREDICTION
“EOS looks very bearish, and although there is some support at $3, there is a lot more room to move on the downside.”
EVERCOIN
1 Jan 2019
MY PREDICTION
“EOS is a very muscular ecosystem with lots of venture capital backing. Watch for this one to grow the most while Ethereum works on its consensus.”
Litecoin (LTC)
Current price per unit
as of 27 Nov 2018 in USD
$25.30 -13%
Average price prediction
for 1 Jan 2019 in USD
$30
Median price prediction
for 1 Jan 2019 in USD
Litecoin’s value was $29.24 as of 27 November 2018. The panellists expect Litecoin to see a 13% drop by 1 January 2019 to $25.30.
Alisa Gus offers the highest prediction for 1 January 2019 at $40.25.
WISHKNISH
1 Jan 2019
MY PREDICTION
“A lot of folks were saying the end of the year — and, in fact, the year overall would be quite good to Litecoin. And now, taking stock on the cusp of 2019 …. it’s not looking good for it, especially considering it’s been positioning itself as a financial transactions coin, and yet Ripple and Stellar are dominating that market. I will give it the benefit of the doubt, for now, as I do hope it springs back up, BTC in tow or not.”
BIT TRADE
1 Jan 2019
EVERCOIN
1 Jan 2019
MY PREDICTION
“Litecoin will ride the upwave with all the others.”
FINDER.COM
1 Jan 2019
Monero (XMR)
Current price per unit
as of 27 Nov 2018 in USD
$55 +3%
Average price prediction
for 1 Jan 2019 in USD
$55
Median price prediction
for 1 Jan 2019 in USD
As of 27 November 2018, Monero’s price was $53.31. Only one panellist predicted a value for Monero in this month’s survey.
Miko Matsumura believes Monero will see slight 3% growth by 1 January 2019 to $55.
EVERCOIN
1 Jan 2019
MY PREDICTION
“Privacy coins will be delisted from exchanges due to pressure from regulators. This will impact price.”
XRP (XRP)
Current price per unit
as of 27 Nov 2018 in USD
$0.36 +3%
Average price prediction
for 1 Jan 2019 in USD
$0.41
Median price prediction
for 1 Jan 2019 in USD
The price of XRP was $0.35 as of 27 November 2018. The panellists predict a slight increase of 3% by 1 January 2019 to $0.36.
All panellists believe XRP will remain under $1 for the next month.
Fred Schebesta offers the lowest prediction for both 1 January 2019 at $0.12.
FINDER.COM
1 Jan 2019
EVERCOIN
1 Jan 2019
MY PREDICTION
“People complain XRP is centralized. But I’m an open-source money maximalist, so centralization is fine.”
WISHKNISH
1 Jan 2019
MY PREDICTION
“It’s proving quite resistant of late to BTC’s troubles — not all the way as yet, but like IOTA and Cardano, it brings its own flavor to its price that’s quite apart from the rest of the bear market. So, while it’s nowhere self-contained as yet, while the adoption news keeps coming, I don’t think there’s as much of a course for worry here as with quite a lot of other cryptos out there.”
BIT TRADE
1 Jan 2019
MY PREDICTION
“XRP has held up the best out of the major pairs. I am expecting $0.35 to hold leading into the end of the year. If not, a move toward $0.25 could be in the cards.”
AKUNA CAPITAL
1 Jan 2019
MY PREDICTION
“Best predictor … “
Stellar Lumens (XLM)
Current price per unit
as of 27 Nov 2018 in USD
$0.28 +100%
Average price prediction
for 1 Jan 2019 in USD
$0.18
Median price prediction
for 1 Jan 2019 in USD
The price for Stellar Lumens was $0.14 per coin as of 27 November 2018. The panellists forecast Stellar Lumens to increase to $0.28 by January 2019 — an increase of 100%, the greatest increase over the next month.
Fred Schebesta expects Stellar to see the greatest increase for both 1 January 2019 at $0.56.
Muneeb Khan offers one of the lowest predictions for 1 January at $0.18. He says, “We are extremely close to the all-time low. From here, the market will want to test that level.”
WISHKNISH
1 Jan 2019
MY PREDICTION
“Not having a nice week either is XLM. But with its fundamentals and growing adoption, it’s not a great surprise to see it begin to take back the lost ground. And if we think back to year over year, I think it’s safe to say Stellar is not about to throw in the towel.”
FINDER.COM
1 Jan 2019
BIT TRADE
1 Jan 2019
MY PREDICTION
“We are extremely close to the all-time low. From here the market will want to test that level.”
EVERCOIN
1 Jan 2019
MY PREDICTION
“Stellar has McCaleb. Don’t bet against Stellar.”
TRON (TRX)
Current price per unit
as of 27 Nov 2018 in USD
$0.01 -12%
Average price prediction
for 1 Jan 2019 in USD
$0.01
Median price prediction
for 1 Jan 2019 in USD
Miko Matsumura believes the coin will fall to $0.01 by 1 January 2019. He says, “TRON pumped to 17B before it shipped anything. TRON will probably ship something before it’s over, but it doesn’t make it a good buy.”
Fred Schebesta believes TRON will reach $0.004 by 1 January 2019.
FINDER.COM
1 Jan 2019
EVERCOIN
1 Jan 2019
MY PREDICTION
“TRON pumped to 17B before it shipped anything. TRON will probably ship something before it’s over, but it doesn’t make it a good buy.”
What’s next?
Here’s what our panellists had to say when asked about the coins they think are up and coming next year.
-
“TRON, EOS, Cardano — these are all functioning projects that are so far delivering on their promises. Once the bear market is over, I am sure the buyers will give them their due.”Alisa Gus
-
“Bitcoin, Litecoin. Reason: ETH will have seriously troubles and difficulty, mainly selling tokens from ICOs.”Joerg Molt
-
“Maker.”Sarah Bergstrand
-
“WifiCoin, Binance Coin, EOS are all strong.”Miko Matsumura
Methodology and disclaimer
Here’s how we calculated the number of bitcoins we expect to circulate:
- Some 12.5 bitcoins are reportedly mined every block, with each block taking an average 10 minutes for mining.
- Using this data, we calculated that approximately 1,800 bitcoins (21,600 ETH) are produced daily.
- We then worked out the predicted market cap by the panellists’ forecast of value per coin.
- We calculated market cap for bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash and Ether, which report the number of coins available.
We chose our 13 coins using the top 10 with the largest market capitalisation reported by CoinMarketCap plus 3 of the top coins with the highest social volume reported by Solume.io as of 19 November 2018. We excluded from our analysis two of the top three coins – IOTA (MIOTA) and Chainlink (LINK) — as they didn’t receive any predictions from panellists.
All prices listed were taken according to Australian EST.
Note that our panellists have holdings in the following cryptocurrencies:
- Craig CobbBTC, ETH, ADA, XLM, HST.
- Sarah BergstrandTop 100 ICOs.
- Toby AllenPanellist did not disclose.
- Alisa GusXLM, BTC, ETH.
- Fred SchebestaETH, EOS.
- Muneeb KhanCurrently all in cash.
- Joerg MoltOnly BTC.
- Desmond MarshallPanellist did not disclose.
- Miko MatsumuraDisclosures at miko.com.
Past predictions
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