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Expert Believes Bitcoin Could Top $100,000 In 2018

Expert Believes Bitcoin Could Top $100,000 In 2018

The cryptocurrency has had an unbelievable year, currently trading at $15,576, but one expert thinks this is just the beginning.

Claire Reid

Claire Reid

What a year it's been for bitcoin, eh? As the cryptocurrency leaves behind its slightly shady past - it was initially used to make anonymous purchases on the dark web - and becomes more mainstream, its value could grow even more. With one expert even saying he thinks it will top £74,545 ($100,000) in 2018.

Dave Chapman, managing director of Octagon Strategy, a company which trades in cryptocurrency, told CNBC he 'wouldn't be surprised to see a six-figure headline' and he's previously been spot on when predicting its worth.

Chapman told CNBC: "I was quoted back in August when bitcoin was trading at around $4,000 that we would have a five-figure headline by the end of this year.

Credit: PA

"I think a lot of people thought I was crazy, a lot of people scoffed at me, but that's OK."

Bitcoin has had an unbelievable year. For context, in January this year Bitcoin was worth £743 ($1,000). By September it had hit (£3,716) $5,000, climbing to £7,431 ($10,000) at the end of last month. It's now trading at around £11,608 ($15,576), despite having a couple of mini-crashes in the past couple of weeks.

The rise in its value has shocked everyone. Even in May this year, experts reckoned it would take 10 years to hit $100,000. Fast forward nine months and they're saying we could see it within a year.

Credit: PA

But not everyone is as quick to jump on the bitcoin bandwagon. Morgan Stanley analyst James Faucette has recently spoken out to warn potential investors. In a paper called 'Bitcoin decrypted', he and his team proposed that the 'real' price of bitcoin might be a big old zero.

According to the paper, bitcoin is not like a currency, because there is no interest rate associated with it, nor is it like gold, because it doesn't have its own intrinsic value attached.


via GIPHY

Faucette also made the point that very few retailers accept bitcoin. In a chart called 'virtually no acceptance, and shrinking', he wrote: "If nobody accepts the technology for payment then the value would be 0."

It's still not going to be enough to turn off investors, though, is it? I'm sure I'm not the only one kicking themselves for not getting involved months back.

Sources: CNBC; CNBC; Business Insider

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Bitcoin, World News, Money, US News, Cryptocurrency