Bitcoin has been on a down trend for quite some time now. After seeing highs of close to $20,000 USD we have seen it drop down to $6,000 and is currently sitting at $6,814 at the time of writing this article. So why do I say we are going to see a $50,000 Bitcoin this year despite all the bears currently pulling down the market. Simple I follow the smart money.
If you have been following the news as much as I have you would know that all countries around the world are looking at Bitcoin and Blockchain Technology with a great deal of scrutiny. Canada has had Andreas Antonopoulos speak and educate the Senate of Canada. The US SEC and CFTC have held a conference to speak about Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies specifically. Venezula is planning to do business with Russia and use the petro coin that they have created. Russia, Iran, and India are in the process of creating a cypto-currencies of their own. Major corporations have said publicly that they are looking into blockchain technology and how it can improve their own business. The uses for blockchain are endless.
So why $50,000; even though all these countries are talking about it no one is using it. To that I say we are only taking the first steps towards the implementation of Blockchain in tangible ways. The on ramps are just starting to open up. If you thought the run up in December 2017 was big, you ain't seen nothing yet.
We have already been told that JP Morgan, who owns a large share in Circle recently purchased Poloniex, and hired 100 employees, (Do you think they would do something like this without high expectations). Coinbase is in the process of creating an ETF of BTC, LTC, ETH, and BCH, (This means institutions can start buying them, meaning by this time next year we will see your local bank asking you to buy them). There is a company in South Korea installing Bitcoin ATMs in many resturants, Monex is looking to buy out Coincheck (If Bitcoin is a bubble why are big financial institutions getting involved now?).
What does this all mean? In my prospective, (my own biased opinion, invest at your own risk) the current on ramps are pretty difficult to navigate, and seem somewhat shady atm. You kind of have to jump through hoops to get your FIAT currency into crypto, with these huge players getting in on the game they will make buying cryptos as simple as going to your local bank and buying some mutual funds. "Although this kind of defeats the purpose of crypto, because the main reason for this is to hold your own keys to your money." This allows people who are not tech savvy to get into the market, meaning your grandmother, or grandfather, or even some parents who don't know how to use a mouse on a computer will soon be able to buy cryptos. With this knowledge I am almost 100% sure that retail investors (i.e. big banks/corporations) will get in this year and after they have bought up as much as they can they will start on-boarding the rest of the world.
My estimate is total market cap will hit 1 trillion by July (BTC hitting previous highs maybe surpassing them) a correction as some cash out, and then another big bull run in Oct-Dec hitting 5 trillion with BTC holding around 25% dominance or close to 1.25 Trillion market cap, around $75,000. With that said $50,000 is a conservative estimate. (Timeline estimated by following Cliff High webbot prediction)
TRADE AT YOUR OWN RISK, I AM JUST SOME GUY ON THE INTERNET SAYING THIS, AND IT IS MY OWN BIASED OPINION.