Is BTC a Good Buy Now?
When is the right time to buy BTC…or any other investment for that matter? The pundits’ answers will run the gamut but the only person that counts is you. What is your pain threshold? Are you risk-averse or drawn to risky business?
Well, if it’s bitcoin we’re discussing then those who purchased the world’s most popular cryptocurrency early last week got a whopping 20 percent return on their investment this week. But how high is it slated to go and will it ever reach its all-time high of roughly $20,000 by the end of this year? So many questions, yet so few answers, but as investment managers are wont to do, they speculate.
Gavin Smith, the chief executive of bitcoin and crypto consortium Panxora, stated, “Our view for the balance of 2020 is still high volatility with a year-end of around $7,000 [per bitcoin] with a drive higher to new highs in 2021.”
In short, Smith believes bitcoin will fall before returning with a thunder in 2021, “Our view is that we still believe the markets are pulled on the one hand by the inflation hedge story driving bitcoin higher while at the same time the global economy is suffering a massive demand shock with the potential to drive bitcoin lower.”
Jimmy Song, the author of Programming Bitcoin, said in Finder’s Cryptocurrency Predictions 2020 report. “There won’t be as much money going into bitcoin while people try to survive. Until the prices rise in the grocery store, bitcoin won’t really start taking off. I suspect that’ll take another nine months or so.”
So, if we are listening closely, the bitcoin gurus are telling us to stay away until the price drops lower in late December and then we pounce, watching bitcoin soar throughout 2021. And while that sounds like a cautious approach, it’s quite obvious the investors who bought in a little over a week ago are glad that they did.
Perhaps the most sound advice comes from Peter Wall, the CEO of crypto-miner Argo Blockchain, when he wrote, “Predicting the price of bitcoin on an exact timeline is a fool’s errand,” but Wall did opine that he is “very optimistic in the medium to long-term, as we believe bitcoin will again be one of the best-performing asset classes in the coming months and years.”
Uniting Cryptos?
While Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, and a few others are the most notable digital currencies, there are literally thousands of other cryptos, of varying value, in the marketplace. Putting investment aside, the pragmatic feature of cryptos is to be able to transact online but getting retailers to adopt this relatively new currency has been a rocky road. However, inroads are being made and some of those rough patches are now paved with shiny new asphalt thanks to corporate behemoths like Microsoft and AT&T becoming early adopters of bitcoin, removing much of the trepidation of smaller retailers that have since followed.
Another market segment that has embraced digital currencies is the sports betting industry. Where many bookmakers actively recommend the use of crypto and most offer bonuses if customers fund their accounts with bitcoin or any number of digital currency options.
But the world of cryptos consists of thousands of platforms in its own space, and unable to communicate with each other. Well, a Chinese government-backed initiative working with Beijing-based, Red Date Technology, wants to integrate all of the cryptos through developers building decentralized applications (dapps) which will oversee everything from financial transactions to drug-delivery tracing.
Red Date’s Chief Executive Officer, He Yifan, stated in a recent interview, “The internet took off only after it became cheap for everyone to build websites. Our mission is to put everything blockchain-related onto BSN’s {Blockchain-based Service Network} platform.”
Matthew Graham, CEO of Beijing-based crypto consultancy Sino Global Capital, stated, “It’s physically bringing the cloud resources needed online to power global blockchains. BSN is the first and only project to bring this to blockchain in an agnostic way.”
Getting the rest of the world in-line with the highly ambitious project will be a steep hurdle due to the skepticism regarding technology of any kind emanating from China coupled with the geopolitical turmoil between Washington and Beijing. But He Yifan countered, ”Whatever your concern is, you can check our source code.”
