2 Experts See Bitcoin (BTC) Rising 84% this Year

After its strong ascent at $US20,000 in the final quarter of December 2017 courtesy of a global virtual currency fad, bitcoin shed more than 70 pct of its market value and spent most of 2018 tip-toeing between the $US4000 level.  The crypto was trading under $US3500 as of this posting.Two fintech gurus have given their proverbial 20-cent on how bitcoin and its key counterparts will fare this year – Digital Capital Management CEO Ben Ritchie, and Finder.com.au and HiveEx.com co-founder, Fred Schebesta.Of these two, Ritchie is the most optimistic, betting a year-end price of $US9500 for bitcoin. The average price projection was only below the $US7000 mark. The Australian investment management company top honcho, who predicts a slow yet steady increase, said two things that market players need to keep an eye on this year is “whether we’ll see de-coupling of the cryptocurrencies, as to date they have trended in a relatively similar fashion.”The second, Ritchie pointed out, is the effect of the conservative finance sector on virtual money. “Will bitcoin clmb if the S&P drops? On-ramp and off-ramps to purchasing cryptocurrencies will improve in 2019 with Bakkt and Fidelity Group entering the market.”A forerunner in the electronic currency ecosystem, bitcoin commanded the most attention, followed by ethereum (ETH) and ripple (XRP). For instance, in a recent survey it showed that more than 1 million Australians are interested in investing in cryptocurrency. For Schebesta, he believes that Millennials are remarkably open than before to adopting bitcoin as a most viable form of investment.“They have grown up with digital technology, so it’s little wonder they want to get involved in cryptocurrency. They are looking at investing very differently to their parents.” Schebesta stressed that lack of ample knowledge was one of the major issues in embracing the promise that bitcoin holds.In the same survey, it showed that 11 pct of respondents had a tough time trading in cryptocurrency. On the other hand, older Australians were especially cynical, with only 1 pct of the so-called Baby Boomers saying they are interested in investing in crypto.