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Bitcoin has experienced a modest recovery in prices after weeks of heavy losses, although market analysts warn that the collapse may not be over yet.
The cryptocurrency dropped briefly below $ 3,300 (£ 2,600) on Friday – bringing it to its lowest value since August 2017 – but returned above $ 3,500 at the weekend. Less than a year ago, the bitcoin was trading at nearly $ 20,000.
It is not the first time in the 10-year history of bitcoin that saw such losses, leading experts to speculate on how much could fall further.
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"Over the last nine years, the cryptoasset market has undergone five major adjustments with a decline in the average value of 85%," said Mati Greenspan, senior market analyst at the eToro online trading platform. L & # 39; Independent.
"On this occasion, for bitcoin record the same decline of 85 percent, its price is expected to fall to $ 2,950."
1/8 Satoshi Nakamoto creates the first bitcoin block in 2009
On January 3, 2009 the bitcoin genesis block appeared. It was less than a year after the pseudonym creator Satoshi Nakamoto described the cryptocurrency in a document titled "Bitcoin: a peer-to-peer electronic payment system"
Reuters
2/8 Bitcoin is used as currency for the first time
On May 22, 2010 the first bitcoin transaction took place in the real world. Lazlo Hanyecz bought two pizzas for 10,000 bitcoins – the equivalent of $ 90 million at today's prices
Lazlo Hanyecz
3/8 Silk Road opens to business
Bitcoin soon gained notoriety for its use on the obscure web. The Silk Road market, established in 2011, was the first of hundreds of sites to offer illegal drugs and services in exchange for bitcoins
4/8 The first bitcoin ATM will appear
On October 29, 2013 the first bitcoin ATM was installed in a coffee shop in Vancouver, Canada. The machine allowed people to exchange bitcoins in cash
REUTERS / Dimitris Michalakis
5/8 The fall of MtGox
The world's largest bitcoin exchange, MtGox, filed for bankruptcy in February 2014 after losing nearly 750,000 of its bitcoin customers. At the time, it was about 7% of all bitcoins and the market inevitably crashed
Getty Images
6/8 The real Satoshi Nakamoto would get up, please
In 2015, Australian police broke into Craig Wright's home after the businessman claimed to be Satoshi Nakamoto. Then terminate the complaint
Getty Images
7/8 The great division of Bitcoin
On 1 August 2017, an unresolvable dispute within the bitcoin community saw the division of the network. The fork of bitcoin's underlying blockchain technology has generated a new cryptocurrency: Bitcoin money
REUTERS
8/8 Bitcoin price sky rockets
Towards the end of 2017, the price of bitcoin rose to almost $ 20,000. This represented an increase of 1,300% compared to its price at the beginning of the year
Reuters
1/8 Satoshi Nakamoto creates the first bitcoin block in 2009
On January 3, 2009 the bitcoin genesis block appeared. It was less than a year after the pseudonym creator Satoshi Nakamoto described the cryptocurrency in a document titled "Bitcoin: a peer-to-peer electronic payment system"
Reuters
2/8 Bitcoin is used as currency for the first time
On May 22, 2010 the first bitcoin transaction took place in the real world. Lazlo Hanyecz bought two pizzas for 10,000 bitcoins – the equivalent of $ 90 million at today's prices
Lazlo Hanyecz
3/8 Silk Road opens to business
Bitcoin soon gained notoriety for its use on the obscure web. The Silk Road market, established in 2011, was the first of hundreds of sites to offer illegal drugs and services in exchange for bitcoins
4/8 The first bitcoin ATM will appear
On October 29, 2013 the first bitcoin ATM was installed in a coffee shop in Vancouver, Canada. The machine allowed people to exchange bitcoins in cash
REUTERS / Dimitris Michalakis
5/8 The fall of MtGox
The world's largest bitcoin exchange, MtGox, filed for bankruptcy in February 2014 after losing nearly 750,000 of its bitcoin customers. At the time, it was about 7% of all bitcoins and the market inevitably crashed
Getty Images
6/8 The real Satoshi Nakamoto would get up, please
In 2015, Australian police broke into Craig Wright's home after the businessman claimed to be Satoshi Nakamoto. Then terminate the complaint
Getty Images
7/8 The great division of Bitcoin
On 1 August 2017, an unresolvable dispute within the bitcoin community saw the division of the network. The fork of bitcoin's underlying blockchain technology has generated a new cryptocurrency: Bitcoin money
REUTERS
8/8 Bitcoin price sky rockets
Towards the end of 2017, the price of bitcoin rose to almost $ 20,000. This represented an increase of 1,300% compared to its price at the beginning of the year
Reuters
The latest prediction comes between widespread speculation about the future of bitcoin and other leading cryptocurrencies like ethereum and ripple.
The notified investor Bobby Lee, who co-founded the BTCC based in Hong Kong, also indicated previous market models to indicate which direction the price could go.
Mr. Lee suggested in a series of tweets that the bitcoin could drop another 1,000 pounds before seeing a strong recovery.
"If history repeats itself perfectly, the current bearish market of #Bitcoin will be reduced to $ 2,500 next month, in January 2019," he tweeted.
"And then the next rally would start towards the end of 2020, the peak will come out in December 2021 to $ 333,000, and then go down again to $ 41,000 in January 2023".
It is not the only optimistic price forecast by a prominent figure in the cryptocurrency space, with Adam Back, founder of Blockstream, who recently suggested that future earnings will bring bitcoins to over 100 times today's value.
Responding to Mr. Lee on Twitter, he said: "Personally, I consider $ 250k – $ 500k / BTC plausible in the years to come."
The price of bitcoin has often been compared to the point com bubble of 2000 (Getty Images /iStockphoto)
Both men suggest that a combination of factors can contribute to the market turnaround, including greater institutional interest, more regulatory oversight and more widespread adoption.
However, other analysts have previously suggested that the cryptocurrency industry is still in the stages of its development "Wild West" and therefore another digital currency could enter and overturn bitcoins.
Whether this happens or not, supporters hope that the cryptocurrencies will not go away soon.
"Institutions and governments are beginning to accept that cryptocurrencies will likely become an integral part of the financial system," said Herbert Sim, chief commercial officer of the cryptocurrency exchange Cryptology.
"Regardless of price moves, it is clear that the cryptocurrency community is here to stay, with institutions offering new trading methods such as options, futures and margin trading."
