
Bitcoin has fallen to its lowest price since October 2017, marking the last losses in a year that saw its value fall to only a quarter of what was worth only a year ago.
Despite these losses, some cryptocurrency analysts are making bold predictions that bitcoins may return close to record levels before 2019.
After falling below $ 4,300 late Tuesday, the bitcoin's price recorded a slight rebound and at the time of writing was trading at around $ 4,600. This is very far from the high forecasts that some analysts predict for bitcoin this year, with many forecasting a return of $ 20,000 at the end of 2017.
But while some cryptocurrency analysts have revised their forecasts, others have kept their figures in anticipation of a major market change in the coming weeks.
One of the most optimistic forecasts comes from Adam Back, co-founder of Block Blockin's blockchain, who claimed to predict earnings that will bring the price of bitcoins to over 100 times today's value.
"Personally, I consider $ 250k – $ 500k / BTC plausible in the years to come," Mr. Back said on Twitter in response to Bobby Lee, another crypto-curriculum fan, who speculated on the overall value of bitcoin could exceed the overall value of In the next few years.
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 unsolvable 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 unsolvable 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 recent market crash has failed to dampen the bullish forecasts of the Fundstrat co-founder, Tom Lee, who said he expected the bitcoin to reach $ 15,000 by the end of 2018.
Mr. Lee justified the current price of bitcoins by referring to the recent collapse in the price of technology stocks, such as Amazon, Apple and Facebook. The increase in institutional support, he said, would help turn bitcoin fortunes around.
"Global markets have seen liquidity drying up and bitcoin is not necessarily an asset value, as are growth, tech and FAANG. [Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google] come under pressure, it will damage bitcoin. The slowdown of FAANG is damaging those who own the bitcoin, "Lee told CNBC.
"The next wave of adoption is institutional, it's a crossover event, this is just an embarrassing transition … Once that is achieved, the institutions will feel much more comfortable in making bets [on bitcoin]".
Bitcoin suffered two major price drops in less than a week, after months of market stability (CoinMarketCap)
Other analysts have taken a more retrospective look at the recent turmoil of bitcoin, stating that such significant price movements are not surprising given the history of cryptocurrency.
"What we are seeing now is the aftermath of the unprecedented rise of Bitcoin and other cryptoassets seen in 2017. This year is simply a retracement of this, the same is happening in even wider markets, where technological stocks, for example, follow a similar pattern: as with all markets, if prices reach levels higher than those that can be justified, they must retreat, "said Mati Greemspan, an analyst at eToro online trading platform, in a L & # 39; Independent.
"These cycles can sometimes be accentuated in the encrypted market because of the riskier nature of this nascent industry, as the previous cycles did not mark the end for wider markets, these price movements do not mark the end of the cryptoassets. at the beginning of the encrypted journey, a certain volatility is expected in this phase ".