CONSUMERS are divided over Bitcoin’s staying power, with about one-third expecting the world’s largest cryptocurrency to slide below US$20,000 by the end of the year, according to a survey by Deutsche Bank.
That would slice approximately US$50,000 off the token’s current price and take it back to levels last seen during a deep bear market in 2022. Just 10 per cent of over 3,600 people surveyed saw Bitcoin above US$75,000 by the end of December.
Some 40 per cent of respondents were confident about Bitcoin thriving over the next few years but 38 per cent expected it to disappear. At the same time, less than 1 per cent considered crypto a fad, the survey conducted over March showed.
The original cryptocurrency traded 1.4 per cent lower at about US$70,700 as of 7.50 am on Tuesday (Apr 9) in London. It achieved an all-time peak of US$73,798 in mid-March. Bitcoin’s 67 per cent rise this year tops traditional assets like global stocks and gold.
A flood of inflows into three-month-old US spot-Bitcoin exchange-traded funds lifted the token and led supporters to argue that crypto demand will widen. Detractors say Bitcoin has no intrinsic value and is purely a speculative playground storing up an inevitable reckoning.
Bitcoin this month will undergo the so-called halving, a four-yearly event that slashes new supply of the token. Some view that as a bullish tailwind.
GET BT IN YOUR INBOX DAILY
Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.
“You’re seeing a lot of continued traction that’s coming into the market because of the upcoming halving,” Victoria Bills, chief investment strategist at Banrion Capital, said on Bloomberg Radio. BLOOMBERG
