Recently Arthur Hayes, Co-Founder & CEO of BitMEX, assured that bitcoin’s (Bitcoin) unstable situation is to end, claiming on CNBC that the first cryptocurrency is sure to rise to $50,000 by the end of the year. Hayes backs this up by saying that they are “one positive regulatory decision away” to climb through the $20,000 barrier all the way up to $50,000. The decision that Hayes mentioned is a regulatory Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF), an investment fund that much like stocks can be traded on stock exchanges.
The fact that bitcoin has recently fallen past its comfort mark of $6,000 does not worry Hayes. He sees this as regular behavior for ‘something that can go up to $20,000 in one year’, assuring that bitcoin will probably hit the $5,000 or even $3,000 mark, before rising to Hayes’ promised $50,000.
Not everyone is as optimistic about bitcoin’s situation. Some refer to bitcoin as nothing more than a speculative gamble. Priya Malani, founding partner of Stash Wealth, a modern financial planning firm, reasons, “if you want to gamble with your money you might as well go to Vegas, it’s much more fun.” Douglass Boneparth, a certified financial planner and bitcoin miner not long ago agreed and shared his views on CNBC, asserting that “by and large cryptocurrencies are speculative and should be treated as such,” Boneparth adds that “it’s cool, it’s in the news, it’s fresh, but it does not change the rules of the game.”
Some, like founder and executive chairman of Edelman Financial Services, Ric Edelman believe that cryptocurrencies are a legitimate asset and have a big future if taken in the very long run. At the moment, however, Edelman believes that they ought to be treated as a lottery ticket “be prepared to lose what you invest.”
Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic advisor at Allianz, a European financial service company, however, sees the state of bitcoin as a buying opportunity, if it were to fall under $5,000.
"I don't think you get all the way back to $20,000, but I do think that you need to establish a base whereby the people who really believe in the future of bitcoin consolidate and then that provides you a lift."
The views and opinions about bitcoin's future differ, and only time will show which path bitcoin will take.