• Bitcoin value to increase 19% by 31 March and 98% by year’s end, according to fintech panellists
• 82% believe the halvening will boost the price of Bitcoin
• Panel positive on Bitcoin, Ether and Tezos/most negative on TRON, EOS, and Litecoin
• 77% say stable coins, such as Facebook’s Libra, threaten national monetary sovereignty

14 January 2020 – Bitcoin could nearly double in price by year’s end, according to a panel of fintech leaders convened by financial comparison website finder.com.

The panel of 13 in Finder’s Cryptocurrency report suggest Bitcoin could rise by almost a fifth (19%) to $8,589 by 31 March and double (98%) to reach as much as $14,275 by the end of the year.

82% of panellists, including founder of Draper Associates, Tim Draper, believe the halvening will boost the price of Bitcoin. The halvening is where the network reduces the reward for mining Bitcoin by 50%, and he explains that Bitcoin “becomes more valuable as the usage and costs to make it go up”.

Fred Schebesta, co-founder of Finder and HiveEx, believes Bitcoin will hit $22,000 by year’s end.

“If we see a continued consistency and no prolonged downward manipulation, I forecast Bitcoin will almost triple by the end of 2020.”

Managing Director of Digital Capital Management, Ben Richie, who had the highest end-of-year price prediction, said geopolitical and economic uncertainty will boost Bitcoin’s value.

“…investors will look to some alternative assets to shield from these events, and cryptocurrencies is likely to be a benefactor,” he said.

Overall the panel was net positive on three cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin, Ether and Tezos but negative about the remaining eight. In particular, they were most negative about TRON, EOS and Litecoin.

Paul Levy, Senior Researcher at the University of Brighton, was negative on nine cryptocurrencies saying, “The major issue is cyber security. A second issue is corruption. Bitcoin still has brand traction [while] others have history that undermines trust.”

Despite speculation that Facebook’s Libra won’t launch, 85% of panellists, including Dr Elvira Soji at the University of New South Wales, think it will launch.

“It will launch in a very limited way, and governments will look much more seriously into central bank digital cash,” she said.

The report also reveals the majority of panellists (77%) believe stable coins, such as Facebook’s Libra, threaten the monetary sovereignty of nations.

Ben Ritchie noted that we are only now “really starting to experiment with money, and the threat to nations will be a bi-product of their lack of adoption to change”.

Technologist Joseph Raczynski went as far as to say that “there is a bit of an arms race to develop a widely held cryptocurrency that can be used around the world”.

You can view the full report here: www.finder.com/uk/cryptocurrency-predictions

ENDS

When reading this report, it’s important you are aware of the risks associated with such a highly volatile market. When deciding to purchase cryptocurrency, you should always be prepared to do your own research and decide what’s right for your own personal financial circumstances.

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