Bitcoin could bounce back big-time in 2018: analyst

Despite its price plunge, some diehard bitcoin aficionados still say the beleaguered cryptocurrency could hit six figures by year’s end.

Tone Vays, a New York-based cryptocurrency analyst and blockchain consultant, has been among those arguing that the wild swings in bitcoin value since its debut in 2009 at less than a penny could mean that an even greater upswing may be possible this year.

“Right now I think that bitcoin should still go down in price, but it will recover,” says Vays. “$100K this year is possible, but that’s very high. I put the current fair value at $25,000.”

Vays decided to bill his clients at 0.1 bitcoin per hour last year when the price hit $1,200, and he says he is not looking back, despite the more than 50 percent hourly pay cut he has taken this year.

Fellow bitcoin disciple Ronnie Moas, for his part, is more measured in his optimism.

“I do not like crypto at $500 billion [market cap] as I did at $100 billion, but I do like it more at $500 billion than I did at $800 billion last month,” said Moas, founder of Standpoint Research, who adds he has raised his 2018 price target to $28,000 from the $20,000 he forecast in November.

“I don’t know how anybody could set and justify a price target that high for this year,” he says of the speculation of a six-figure bitcoin price tag in the near future.

Offering a different outlook is James Rickards, strategic director at Meraglim, a financial analytics firm.

“I think bitcoin is going to go to $200,” he predicts, without offering a timeframe. “The only residual use is for criminals, and it will keep grinding down.”