As the crypto market continues to shrug off the bear market of 2022, there are indications that 2023 will bring more good tidings for the space than the previous year.
According to a report by Finder, which aims to predict bitcoin’s future price with 56 experts from the cryptocurrency and financial technology industry: bitcoin will peak at $29,095 this year, but the flagship digital asset is predicted to end 2023 at roughly $26,844 per unit.
Despite the ‘to the moon’ chants in the crypto community, the Finder consensus prediction still does not believe that bitcoin will break the $30,000 range this year. It is, however, ours to speculate if we are indeed heading to the moon or merely going to experience a season slightly better than 2022.
More on the Finder report
Finder’s panel contained 56 Fintech and crypto specialists who convened to give their 2023 bitcoin price forecast. Apart from expecting the price of Bitcoin to peak at $29,095 before ending the year at $26,844, the Finder report said that some of its panellists predicted a 2023 low of $13,067 for the benchmark digital currency.
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Ruadhan O, the creator and founder of Seasonal Tokens, stated that BTC might peak at $27,000 as BTC’s price would be suppressed by worries about the financial health of centralised businesses in the industry. According to him:
“The price is low because possible imminent catastrophes are being priced in. By the end of the year, market sentiment will have changed, and after the fear goes away, the market will rediscover the scarcity of Bitcoin.”
The senior market analyst at FxPro, Alexander Kuptsikevich said bitcoin is currently underpriced.
“The phase of the most active cryptocurrency sell-off is over. 2023 will be a year of careful price recovery. However, a real FOMO market is unlikely to come until 2024-2025,”
The report read in part:
“While BTC is currently rallying above $20,000, the panel expects it to drop to $13,067 at some point in 2023 – the lowest it’s been since October 2020.”
Institutional Investors to leave the market?
Following the recent market crash and FTX collapse, a fifth (21 per cent) of Finder’s panel believe institutional investors will leave the crypto market for other asset classes this year. However, the majority (75 per cent) think otherwise, while the remaining 4 per cent are unsure.
According to AskTraders senior cryptocurrency and forex analyst Nick Ranga, institutional investors will leave crypto this year. He said:
“With inflation still uncomfortably high and recession risk looming, overall market sentiment remains risk-off. US interest rates are expected to peak at around 5 per cent in the first half of 2023 so we could see investors return to riskier assets later in the year. In the short term there could still be more downside.”
Should you buy or sell bitcoin now?
50% of the Finder’s panellists feel that now is an excellent time to buy BTC, and 37% feel it’s a good time to hold the asset. Only 13% of the panellists think that now is a good time to sell BTC.
According to Daniel Polotsky, the founder and chairman of CoinFlip: “It seems like we may be close to the Bitcoin and crypto bottom, Bitcoin will emerge from the ashes of the ruins as it always has in the past, and now may be a good time to feast on the dip.”
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President of NetCoins, Fraser Matthews shares a similar view with Polotsky. “I believe that the current price of Bitcoin is a good entry point for investors, and I anticipate it will continue to rise in the long term.”
Bottomline
Since the start of 2023, the crypto market has seen immense buying pressure resulting in major tokens erasing their losses since the November 2022 implosion of FTX. This abrupt event roiled the market and tarnished the industry’s reputation.
Like all asset classes, digital assets carry certain risks, the two biggest ones being volatility and increased regulation. If market rallies of 2020/2021 are going to be replicated in 2023, then the industry needs to do away with 2022 implosions like the Terra and FTX crash. Those were the two major catalysts that plunged the ecosystem into an abyss from which it is yet to recover from.
New frauds will hinder the recovery of the crypto market in 2023. However, innovation and the introduction of regulatory frameworks in several territories will provide a better operating environment to actualise the heights predicted by the Finder report.
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