The final two months of 2017 have proved that Bitcoin is synonymous with volatility, although the top cryptocurrency’s resilience has also shown through. An eight-week bull run culminated in a $20,000 high a little over a week ago, before the market capitalization quickly corrected by as much as $8,000 on different exchanges around the world on Saturday.
Speaking to CNBC, Dr. Julian Hosp, co-founder of fintech company TenX, predicted that Bitcoin would see even higher peaks and lower dips in the next year, stating:
“I think we're going to see Bitcoin hitting the $60,000 mark, but I also think we're going to see Bitcoin hitting the $5,000 mark. The question is though, 'Which one is it going to hit first?'”
While some certainly saw Bitcoin’s correction from all-time highs as a market crash or bubble bursting, bullish investors, including Hosp, believe that the recent lows provided the perfect opportunity to buy more Bitcoin. Hosp stated:
"For experts that have been in the market, this was actually a welcome dip. This dip for us was very, very healthy, and some of us have used it to buy a little bit more because suddenly we had 40-45 percent discount to all-time highs."
Crypto market grows up
The dip was not only in Bitcoin’s price. At the end of last week, the cryptocurrency market suffered an overall loss of $200 bln in the space of 48 hours -- but it quickly bounced back and consolidated. While the dramatic correction was terrifying to watch, it certainly was not the first time it has happened, and some analysts are certain it won’t be the last.
A number of factors were at play in the correction and no single catalyst can be attributed to the direct decline in value in the week leading up to Christmas.
Hosp may be bullish right now, but he anticipates an even bigger correction for the whole cryptocurrency market, as users sift through the superfluous coins and invest in those that offer tangible uses and real value. Hosp added:
"I don't think it's going to be a bubble that's just going to burst and everyone is going to lose their money, but I think it's going to be that all the coins and all the assets with very little use or value are going to get sorted out. The money is going to flow into those assets in this cryptocurrency space that really deliver value, have new technology, and are being used by people."