Technological advancements and new investor products could push bitcoin to $50,000 in 2018, Thomas Glucksmann of Gatecoin told CNBC.
Cryptocurrencies could go on a bull run greater than last year and pass the trillion-dollar value mark, Jamie Burke, CEO at Outlier Ventures said.
Investors may focus on so-called “utility tokens” this year which are digital coins that can power blockchain technologies, according to experts.
At its lowest point on Tuesday, the total cryptocurrency market saw over $550 billion wiped off its value. Bitcoin has seen a fall in recent days, dropping below $6,000 for the first time since November. On Wednesday, it was trading above the $8,000 level as the cryptocurrency market stabilized.
Ethereum and Ripple marking a near 60 percent decline in a few weeks, according to Coinmarketcap.com data. Both Ripple and Ethereum are higher than a year ago.
“Increasing regulatory recognition of cryptocurrency exchanges, the entrance of institutional capital and major technology developments will contribute to the market’s rebound and push cryptocurrency prices to all new highs this year. There is no reason why we couldn’t see bitcoin pushing $50,000 by December.” Thomas Glucksmann, head of APAC business development at cryptocurrency exchange Gatecoin, told CNBC.
The technology advancements Glucksmann referenced include bitcoin’s so-called Lightning Network, which would boost the very slow transaction speeds using the cryptocurrency.
Last year, the CME and CBOE both released bitcoin futures productst hat people could trade. And Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman told CNBC in a recent interview that the exchange was “continuing to investigate” cryptocurrency futures.
The recent cryptocurrency sell-off came after huge price rises for many coins last year. Bitcoin was up nearly 1,300 percent, while Ethereum rose over 8,000 percent and Ripple surged over 32,000 percent.
Even though the price rises were massive, some experts think that this year could be even bigger.
“We believe after February the market will likely go on a bull run comparative if not greater than last year potentially reaching the trillion-dollar mark before a proper crypto winter sets in where the market becomes more focused on proper market fundamentals,” Jamie Burke, CEO at Outlier Ventures, a venture capital firm that focuses on blockchain investments, told CNBC.
