What Will It Take To Send Bitcoin Flying Into 2019

The majority of Bitcoin investors are holding out for something special, an expected climb beyond $20,000.00 and new heights reached in terms of Bitcoins value. Whilst nobody can ever guarantee that this will happen, many do believe that Bitcoin can and will hold its own once again at a value exceeding $20,000.00, marking a huge return for many investors and marking yet another exciting time in the crypto era. The big question is, how long will it take before Bitcoin see’s $20,000.00 again? Admittedly, many investors are getting very impatient now. We’re almost 10 months into the year, that’s 10 months since Bitcoin hit $20,000.00, and 10 months of waiting for the second coming, the return of Bitcoin. Institutional Investment Many believe that the bull run that started all of this off, the one that sent Bitcoin to $20,000.00 in the first place, was triggered by the launch of Bitcoin Futures contracts, alongside growing optimism regarding the markets. As a result of this, the general consensus is that in order for Bitcoin to be able to swing upwards again, a huge change needs to come, or a huge product needs to be launched on the markets. This is where the Bitcoin ETF comes to play. As a product that is guaranteed to inspire institutional investment, it is slowly becoming the product most associated with having the capacity to send Bitcoin to the moon once again. This is simply because institutional level investment will bring huge amounts of money into the markets. Products like the Bitcoin ETF will pump large amounts of cash into Bitcoin, boosting the value of Bitcoin upwards and giving investors a healthy return on their investment. Please don’t go and buy Bitcoin based on this alone, we can’t actually guarantee the full scale of the Bitcoin ETF, or even if any will be approved. Furthermore, if an ETF is approved, then we can’t actually guarantee institutions will buy into it en masse, straight away. Very long story short - none of this is guaranteed, although it is what we all hope to happen at the very least. What are the experts saying? It wouldn’t be a Bitcoin prediction without the ‘experts’ weighing in, would it? According to CNN Money, famed Bitcoin Bull Mike Novogratz, the CEO of Galaxy Digital has recently spoken out about his future (and very optimistic) Bitcoin predictions. Novogratz believes that institutional interest is already starting to peak, with big companies such as Starbucks and Microsoft already starting to recognise Bitcoin and accept cryptocurrency payments. Novogratz told CNN Money:

"Starbucks and Microsoft will allow you to use bitcoin. As you see more adoption of just people being comfortable with it, it feels like it's going to go up."

As more institutions gain interest, they will start to fear missing out, or FOMO as it’s known in the industry. As a result of this, inquisition will climb and more institutions will want in, boosting the prospect of institutional investment. Novogratz continues:

“More institutions will jump on board for fear of missing out. There's an institutional FOMO going on all of a sudden."

The next stage however is by far the most interesting bit. Once FOMO reaches an all time high, certain types of institution and industry will want in. When Bitcoin starts attracting financial service providers, things will start to get interesting, we could see investment from companies within pension funding, insurance, banks and other financial groups - groups that are notorious for the ways in which they handle money, as Novogratz states:

"As you start getting custody and service providers in and around the system, it allows pension funds and endowments to get involved."

Then what happens? According to CNN Money:

“Novogratz thinks the cryptocurrency hit bottom earlier this month. He predicts bitcoin will rally 30% by the end of the year. And in the first quarter of next year, you'll really start seeing it move."

Novogratz believes that this institutional investment will start to have an impact going into 2019. As a result of this, Bitcoin won’t stoop any lower than it is now and that the only way is up from here. A 30% climb will be the start of something far bigger and far more exciting. Can this happen before 2019? This is the tricky part of the question. We don’t know when Bitcoin will surge again. We can assume that Bitcoin will hit $20,000.00 someday and we know that institutional investment is the change needed to make this happen, but the timing of it all is very much uncertain. If a Bitcoin ETF is launched within the next few months, we could very well see Bitcoin hit $20,000.00 before 2019. As stated though, we can’t guarantee when a Bitcoin ETF will go live, nor can we guarantee that a Bitcoin ETF will have such a big impact. Therefore, we are going to assume that Bitcoin probably won’t hit $20,000.00 before the new year. Going into the next year however, this could change massively. If not 2019… how about Bitcoin at $30,000.00 by 2020? References CNN Money