Bitcoin has been on a tear lately. The cryptocurrency is up more than 400% since March, and it’s showing no signs of slowing down.
Investors are betting that the digital coin will continue to rise in value as more businesses start to accept it and as central banks around the world print more money to stimulate economies hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.
The price of bitcoin could hit $100,000 in 2021, says an analyst who correctly predicted the cryptocurrency’s surge in 2017.
In an interview with Bloomberg TV on Tuesday, Ronnie Moas said he expects bitcoin to benefit from the same forces that have driven up the prices of other assets this year, such as stocks and gold.
“I look at bitcoin the same way I look at Amazon and Tesla — it’s a momentum play,” said Moas, founder of research firm Standpoint Research. “When an asset starts going up this fast, it usually continues for another year or two.
So I’m putting a Target of $50,000 on bitcoin for 2021. And there’s a good chance it could reach $100,000 by the end of 2021.”.
Moas has been bullish on bitcoin for years. In July 2017, he predicted the cryptocurrency would hit $5,000 by 2018 — which it did — and said it could eventually be worth as much as $400,000 per coin.
Bitcoin peaked near $20,000 in December 2017 before plunging below $3,000 a year later. It bottomed around $3,800 in December 2018 and has since rebounded sharply.
The digital coin has rallied more than 80% this year as investors have poured money into assets seen as benefiting from low interest rates and inflationary pressures stemming from massive stimulus programs around the world. Bitcoin topped $11,800 on Tuesday and is up more than 400% since March 13.
Gold is up about 26% this year while the S&P 500 index has gained about 50%.
While many mainstream investors remain skeptical of bitcoin, some major companies have started to embrace it. Square (SQ), for example, recently invested $50 million in bitcoin — about 1% of its total assets — and said it may buy more in the future.
PayPal (PYPL) also started allowing customers to buy and sell bitcoin earlier this year through its popular payment platform. And last week, insurance giant MassMutual bought $100 million worth of bitcoin as part of a new investment strategy focused on alternative assets.
The institutional buying has helped push bitcoin above its 200-day moving average for the first time since June 2019 — a bullish technical signal that suggests the digital coin’s long-term trend is now back to being up again after being stuck in a bear market for more than two years. The move above the 200-day moving average “is very significant technically and suggests we are in store for much higher prices over the next few months/years,” Moas said Tuesday.
It is clear that Ronnie Moas is confident that Bitcoin will continue to rise in value based on numerous fundamental indicators pointing towards mass adoption On top if this technical analysis points to Bitcoin continuing its upwards trend after breaking past key resistance levels.