Bitcoin (BTC) is set to crack $80,000 and hit a new all-time high this year, according to Finder.com’s latest Bitcoin Price Predictions report.
Finder’s panel of 35 fintech and cryptocurrency specialists believe that BTC will peak at $81,680 on average in 2022 before dropping to $65,185 by the end of the year.
Morpher CEO, Martin Fröhler, gave one of the most bullish end-of-2022 forecasts and says “political uncertainty, inflation, and an ever increasing desire to own non-government controlled assets will propel Bitcoin to new all-time highs.”
On the other hand, CoinJar CEO Asher Tan gives a more conservative prediction. Tan predicts BTC will peak at $60,000 before dropping slightly to $56,000 by the end of the year.
“There’s still plenty of uncertainty about the short-term Bitcoin outlook. Given the macroeconomic headwinds, it would not surprise me to see Bitcoin spend the whole year bouncing around between US$30-60k – the sort of conditions that are terrible for traders, but rewarding for accumulators with a multi-year timeframe,” he said.
Although the panel’s average forecast for the end-of-2022 is significantly higher than the price of BTC at the time of writing, it is 15% lower than the January prediction of $76,360.
Bitcoin’s lack of use cases beyond being a store of value may factor into why the panel is becoming less bullish on Bitcoin.
In fact, half (50%) of Finder’s panel, including Thomson Reuters technologist and futurist, Joseph Raczynski, believe that BTC will eventually be overtaken by a more advanced blockchain in terms of being the most popular cryptocurrency.
“Bitcoin is a one trick pony. For now it really only serves as another currency, akin to a dollar, euro, or pound. Other blockchains that serve a multitude of purposes will likely have a chance to take the throne,” he said.
According to Raczynski, this is likely to be Ethereum:
“It can serve as money, but has created a platform to tokenize all assets and create a massive platform of the internet of value. This is far grander than BTC potentially.”
Longer-term forecasts for BTC have also been on the downtrend since October 2021. By 2025, the panel predicts BTC will be worth $179,280, which is a 13% drop from the panel’s October prediction of $206,351, and a 7% drop from the January forecast of $192,800.
The panel’s price predictions for 2030 have also dropped since October. The panel now expects BTC will be worth $420,240 by the end of 2030, which is roughly 25% lower than their October forecast of $567,472.
University of Canberra senior lecturer John Hawkins is one of the most bearish on BTC’s future, predicting the coin will be worth just $5,000 and $100 by the end of 2025 and 2030 respectively as it loses out to Ethereum.
“As well as private crypto being replaced by CBDCs, and a general collapse of the speculative bubble, I think bitcoin will lose out to ethereum which has a stronger use case, especially if ethereum ever converts to PoS and so becomes more environmentally responsible.”