Bitcoin's stellar 2023 rally has more room to run over the coming year after the largest cryptocurrency breached US$30,000 last week.
Cryptos have bottomed out, and the likely outcome by the end of 2024 is for the surge in digital currencies to jump further, according to a survey of analysts by Blockhead.
The rapid return from Bitcoin's "crypto winter" surprisingly put the notoriously volatile digital currency at the top of the scoreboard as the best-performing asset class by a wide margin in the first quarter.
Related: Blockhead Business Bulletin: Fed's Stress Test & US$30,000 Bitcoin
Bitcoin gained 72% in the first three months of the year, making it the best quarter since the three months that concluded in March 2021, when it gained around 103%.
The crypto token was the top-performing asset class in the first quarter, outpacing every other asset, including fiat currencies by a significant margin.
Larger cryptos have likely bottomed out, according to a Blockhead study of 20 experts in investment management, research organisations, and institutional investors with over US$8 trillion in assets under management (AUM) combined.
They now bet that the 15-year-old Bitcoin, and the coin linked to the Ethereum blockchain network, Ether, will surge further.
The most optimistic call for Bitcoin is for it to double from here and for Ether to triple in price by the end of next year.
"After a long, frigid crypto winter, the surge in the price of Bitcoin this year is like a refreshing breeze," said the chief investment officer of a large US asset management firm in Boston.
"The Federal Reserve is likely to change its monetary policy to easing soon, which may explain the recent uptick in confidence," he added.
Related: Bitcoin Above US$30,000 on Fed’s “One More & Done” Bets
Massive Upgrade
From around US$30,150 now, the latest Blockhead survey of 20 analysts between April 17 and 19 predicts that Bitcoin's price will rise to US$32,000 by end-June and continue to surge to US$40,000 by the end of 2023.
That's up from the previous Blockhead survey in February, which forecasted US$27,000 and $30,000, respectively.
The largest cryptocurrency by market cap is predicted to increase by over 65% to US$50,000 by the end of next year, with the most optimistic call for Bitcoin to almost double from here and reach US$60,000.
"The traditional financial markets are fraught with unpredictability, but Bitcoin has emerged as a possible safe haven," said the chief asset advisor (CAA) of a boutique fund house in London specializing in alternative investments.
"Despite a financial crisis plunging markets into a recession, the volatile cryptocurrency is holding its own," added the CAA.
There are excellent reasons to be suspicious of crypto assets: the bankruptcy of several important crypto enterprises last year resulted in enormous losses for crypto customers, and the US government is aggressively closing down on the crypto industry's top participants.
"While the fundamentals of cryptos have not changed, the bias in favour of cryptocurrencies has risen with traditional banking systems around the world showing cracks all over again," said a Fund Manager at an Investment Firm in Zurich.
"New tech in backing older and larger cryptos is only going to win over more investors," added the Fund Manager, referring to Ether's upgrade last week.
Ether to Soar
After the latest upgrade, the broad outlook is that the price of Ether will increase to US$2,400 by the end of June and surge to end this year at US$3,100.
That compared to US$1,900 and US$22,350 predicted just two months ago for those periods, respectively.
From its current price of roughly US$2,080, analysts predicted that by the end of 2024, Ether will have risen to US$4,500, a gain of over 115%.
And if the most optimistic call is anything to go by, Ether is forecast to jump 150% from here to US$6,000 by the end of 2024.
Overall, the latest survey was a massive upgrade for the top cryptocurrencies.
The survey was conducted by Research Garage, on behalf of Blockhead. Responses were asked to be strictly anonymous and based on a speculative outlook and not forecasting models.
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