The crypto market for its investors who entered the market at around 2017 was quite traumatic. Bitcoin along with the other altcoins lost a significant amount this year. Bitcoin has already lost 80% of its value since Bitcoin reached its all-time high of near $20,000 in mid-December last year. And the worst part is that it doesn’t have any sign of recovery in the near future.
Bitcoin Going Below $3,000?
Bitcoin was stable for a couple of months around $6,200 to $6,500. Then the Bitcoin Cash hard fork happened and everything went downhill from there.
And so far, the forecast for its near future isn’t really looking good. Anthony Pompliano who is Morgan Creek Digital Assets’ founder mentioned to CNBC that Bitcoin could still go lower.
He explained that Bitcoin could bottom below $3,000. He said that “Short term, I actually think we have lower to go”. One of his predictions in November came true as he mentioned that Bitcoin is going to plunge $3,000.
Then, there was the brief recovery that happened to Bitcoin when it reached almost $4,300 before Christmas. However, it was short lived as the price went back below $4,000 a few days after. Coincidently, the short burst by Bitcoin to almost $4,300 coincided with the stock market plunging. Dow Jones Industrial lost around 2.25% on that same day while Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost around 5% at the same time. But for Pompliano, he mentioned that Bitcoin is “definitely” a non-correlated asset.
Future of Cryptos?
The future of cryptos is still uncertain for the coming year. In fact, there are indications wherein institutional investors still don’t want to commit fully on cryptocurrencies. During the start of the year, regulatory clarity was in everyone’s mind as regulators tried their best to end the Wild West nature of the crypto market. But nearing 2019, regulatory clarity is still far from reality.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission continues to go after companies who were able to raise funds via ICO, and even the celebrities who endorsed it. In addition to this, there are lawmakers who want to change the definition of securities for the sake of accommodating cryptocurrencies.
Institutional Investors Entering in 2019?
However, if you are going to ask Henri Arslanian who is the head of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) predicted that there will be more institutional investors in the coming year. During Christmas Eve, Arslanian mentioned that regulatory clarity will bring big players in the niche. He said that “A lot of elements are changing at the global level. If you look at 2018, a number of jurisdictions provided more regulatory clarity than have before. Countries from Hong Kong to Switzerland, Gibraltar to Malta… I expect many of those to take place as well in 2019”.
One of the things that the crypto market is pinning their hope on that can boost adoption is a Bitcoin ETF. However, it seems that Bitcoin ETF is still far from reality. SEC chairman Jay Clayton mentioned that there should be a change in the crypto market before the agency is even comfortable approving a Bitcoin ETF. A few months back, the SEC decided to reject a number of Bitcoin ETF proposals over concerns of price manipulation.
Clayton mentioned as well that the lack of monitoring tools by cryptocurrency exchanges make the market prone to price manipulation.
