Bitcoin moves higher again; analysts credit big-investor interest

Bitcoin rose 6.54 per cent to $57,098.08 on Friday, adding $3,504.11 to its previous close, and analysts credited increasing interest by major investors as the driver.

An expert panel at an online conference said that bitcoin is still undervalued, Forbes reported.

“Institutional investment will continue to drive the price up, but $100,000 is a psychological barrier that even institutions will find too high,” said panelist Paul Ennis, assistant professor at University College Dublin, in a statement alongside the findings.

Just over half (51 per cent) of the panel, made up of academics and cryptocurrency industry figures and surveyed by personal finance comparison site Finder, think that bitcoin is still undervalued, while roughly a quarter (24 per cent) say it’s overvalued and the same percentage say it’s fairly priced.

The price of bitcoin could soar up to $107,484 at some point during 2021, according to the panel average, with the majority of the 35 panelists (58 per cent) identifying institutional investors as driving the price rally, compared to 24 per cent who say it’s retail-driven and 18 per cent by large bitcoin holders known as whales.

While the panel consensus is for the bitcoin price to end 2021 just shy of $100,000, they expect bitcoin to continue climbing over the next few years to a staggering $360,000 by 2025—a percentage increase of over 500 per cent.

“A correction would be healthy for sustained levels of growth and setting up for another bull run, again exceeding the previous one and after a shorter time interval of flat levels,” said Delta.app chief executive Nicholas Van Hoorde in comments issued with the survey.

Bitcoin, the world’s biggest and best-known cryptocurrency, is up 105.9 per cent from the year’s low of $27,734 on Jan. 4. It is down 12 per cent from the year’s high of $64,895.22 on April 14, Reuters reported on Saturday.

Ether , the coin linked to the ethereum blockchain network, rose 1.06 per cent to $2,787.35 on Friday, adding $29.29 to its previous close.