Bitcoin has been battered all year and it is not even over yet. It has lost around 85% from its all-time high. During 2017’s peak, Bitcoin went near $20K, it slumped all the way down to around $3,400 weeks before 2018 ends. From the Bitcoin Cash hard fork to the hesitation of miners to turn on their equipment that led to the decreased hash rate in the network, the recent weeks were quite tough for the world’s number one cryptocurrency along with the other altcoins.
Bitcoin bull and Fundstrat founder Tom Lee, who predicted a few months back that Bitcoin could surpass its all-time high this year, believes that the current price of Bitcoin is wrong. He previously predicted that Bitcoin by the end of the year could potentially reach $25K. And despite the recent weeks, Tom Lee still insists that Bitcoin could still reach $15K by the end of the year.
Now, he mentioned that based on the number of active wallet addresses, usage per account, and factors that influence supply, Bitcoin’s fair market price is at $13,800 to $14,800. He said that that “Fair value is significantly higher than the current price of Bitcoin”. He further explained that “In fact, working backwards, to solve for the current price of Bitcoin, this implies crypto wallets should fall to 17 million from 50 million currently”.
Adoption is Key
Lee believes that adoption is key in order to drive the price of Bitcoin back up. Bitcoin needs to have just 7% of Visa’s 4.5 billion account holders to get a fair value of $150,000.
When it comes to his prediction this time around, Lee mentioned that “We are tired of people asking us about target prices”. However, it is true that he remains bullish over the future of Bitcoin.
One of the things that can help push adoption is regulatory clarity. Recently, the Securities and Exchange Commission has been targeting both companies that sold tokens via ICO to celebrities who promoted them. In fact, social media influencers are also being targeted. One famous celebrity targeted by the SEC is Floyd Mayweather.
Unfortunately, it seems that adoption is still a long way to go considering the volatility of Bitcoin and other altcoins. In countries such as Venezuela suffering from economic problems such as hyperinflation, cryptocurrencies have found its home. Dash has been utilized in daily transactions while Bitcoin has been used as a store of value.
Is Now The Best Time to Buy?
Weiss Rating recently tweeted that it is the best time to buy Bitcoin at this time around. Considering the points that Tom Lee just raised, does it confirm that it’s a good time to buy now?
Crypto analyst David Puell believes that the Bitcoin could still bottom at around $2,800. Should you wait for this or should you start buying now?
Bitcoin is currently battered. Will 2019 be the year when Bitcoin recovers? Will there be another bull run? Of course, no one really knows if this is the case. However, looking at the past behavior of Bitcoin, it has always recovered after corrections. But of course, it might take years before Bitcoin could get back on its feet once again.
