With Thanksgiving now in the books and the calendar just days away from turning the page to December, most bitcoin bulls are conceding defeat in regard to their 2018 crypto market predictions. However, the new year is just around the corner, and BitPay COO Sonny Singh believes that 2019 could bring good tidings to the bitcoin price.
Speaking during an interview on Bloomberg TV, Singh said that he believed that the crypto market would likely turn a corner at some point during the first two quarters of 2019 as major companies such as Fidelity and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) begin to roll out cryptocurrency products.
Fidelity, as CCN reported, is building a cryptoasset custody service targeted at institutional investors, while ICE — via its new crypto subsidiary, Bakkt — plans to launch a physically-settled bitcoin futures product in late January. Singh said that he expects other legacy financial firms to eventually follow suit and release products that compete with his company, BitPay, as well as other crypto stalwarts such as Coinbase.
He said that these launches, coupled with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) finally approving the first bitcoin ETF — which is by no means a certainty — will enable the bitcoin price to burst out of its slump and return toward its all-time high heading into late 2019.
“I would say, if these traditional incumbents do launch their products, actually, you would see price maybe around $15,000, possibly even $20,000 by the end of next year.”
However, hearkening back to comments he has made in the past, Singh expressed skepticism that the next rally will see crypto prices rise indiscriminately, irrespective of their fundamentals.
“I think there’s a big night and day difference between bitcoin and everything else. Bitcoin is the 800-pound gorilla. That’s the one that has the mass network effect. That’s the one that the traditional financial incumbents are building products around,” he said. “The other ones, I don’t know what’s going to happen to them….None of them are going to survive unless bitcoin survives first.”
Featured Image from Shutterstock. Charts from TradingView.
