Comments from Luno CEO, Swanepoelon bitcoin’s ongoing price surge

With bitcoin currently going through a record breaking price surge – currently at $29k, Tommy Rufai, PR Senior Account Executive shares the latest analysis from Luno’s CEO, Marcus Swanepoel, with Gentechnews on these historic developments in the cryptocurrency market. Excerpt:

1) What are your thoughts on the recent price surge?

Even the most bullish of bitcoin advocates could not have foreseen such a meteoric rise in price in such a short space of time. If history has taught us anything, it’s that a surge of price in bitcoin is normally followed by a small pullback before it gears up again for the next price cycle, but evidently the opposite has happened.

2) How fast could bitcoin reach $100,000 and what could this happen?

It would not be outlandish to say that we could see something approaching the $100,000 mark before the year’s end. Bitcoin has typically surged in times of economic trouble, which has played a big role in bitcoin’s surge in 2020. We’ve seen it outperform even the most reliable of safe-havens in gold, and with more economies around the world printing more money and weakening the value of their own currencies – an issue not inherent to bitcoin – it will continue to serve as a more appealing option to investors.

There’s a positive domino effect at play. One of the biggest challenges still facing cryptocurrency as a whole is its adoption. People still ask what bitcoin is, how does it work, where can they spend it? These are all valid questions, but the greater investment and attention around bitcoin, the broader its appeal becomes, the more investors it attracts, and the higher its price.

3) Surely this market is in pure speculation territory? Volatility might be quiet on the way up, but isn’t it storing up a problem?

Bitcoin will still have its ebbs and flows, that is for sure. However, relative to where it was a few years ago – and even in relation to traditional stocks – it’s in a better place with regards to volatility than it’s ever been.

While a plateau or even decrease in price at some point in 2021 would not be wholly unexpected, it shouldn’t be significant enough to prevent bitcoin from hitting the $50,000 to $100,000 mark by the year’s end.

One of the main reasons for this is the people behind the investments compared to just a few years ago. Traditionally, investors in bitcoin have been the enthusiasts – individual investors who banked on the currency being the future of money.

However, we’re now seeing more and more institutional investment come into play. Facebook, PayPal, Square – some of the biggest names in the business are entering the cryptocurrency space and this is going some way to allaying the doubts that have previously undermined bitcoin, ensuring that any future hit to its price will not be as significant as we’ve seen in the past.