Bill Barhydt, CEO of crypto exchange Abra, predicted that Bitcoin has a good chance of hitting $100,000 in 2022.
The crypto market has seen a lot of drama in 2021. Some of these include doubling its market cap from last year to hit $2.5 trillion, being heavily adopted by institutional investors, seeing a severe crackdown on Bitcoin mining from the Chinese government, and also, Bitcoin hitting an all-time high of nearly $69,000. According to fintech analyst James Ledbetter, more drama awaits the industry in the coming 2022 year.
One of the things to expect is the Ethereum competition. Many crypto blockchains have presented themselves as faster and cheaper, and according to Ledbetter, this will continue in 2022.
Secondly, the Fintech analyst predicted expansion in the secondary or derivative market in the coming year. Citing the Bitcoin-based ETF launched by Canada’s Purpose Investments Inc in February and growing to record $1.4 billion under management, Ledbetter believes that this can be duplicated 10 or 100 times in markets outside the US. He predicts that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is more likely to approve a Bitcoin or crypto ETF in 2022. “Individual investors are also increasingly likely to realize that they can build profit in a crypto portfolio, despite the risks, and borrow against it, extending the crypto ecosystem,” he said.
2022 will also be a year of impressive crypto adoption rate. According to him, though adoption will not necessarily be in the form of legal tender as occurred in El Salvador, financial institutions would be under immense pressure as customers would demand them to add it to their Portfolio. Crypto would be one of the strategies financial institutions and banks will use to entice and retain customers.
In addition, volatility growth for the biggest cryptos will continue to rise. Bill Barhydt, CEO of crypto exchange Abra predicted that Bitcoin has a good chance of hitting $100,000 in 2022. According to Ledbetter, that is ambitious but hardly insane. He pointed out that the overall market for bigger coins was way up in 2021, but people are often distracted by the crypto rollercoaster. He warns that the Bitcoin price could fall another 20% on its way to that price height.
He also predicts that government backlashes will continue with the growing crypto industry. Having recognized that banning cryptos completely is nearly impossible, he noted that governments can resort to other strategies by denying exchanges licenses to make it difficult for their citizens to trade. He predicts that there could be more scrutiny about the climate impact of crypto mining in Europe and the US.
Finally, 2022 will be the end of big tech competitions. Big tech companies like Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: FB) have struggled to launch their crypto ‘’Diem”. As stated by Ledbetter, the frustration will continue with other firms in the coming year. “The recent departure of Meta’s head of cryptocurrency David Marcus all but guarantees that even if Diem makes it out of the starting gate, it will be irrelevant,” he said.
Excellent John K. Kumi is a cryptocurrency and fintech enthusiast, operations manager of a fintech platform, writer, researcher, and a huge fan of creative writing. With an Economics background, he finds much interest in the invisible factors that causes price change in anything measured with valuation. He has been in the crypto/blockchain space in the last five (5) years. He mostly watches football highlights and movies in his free time.
