A trader claims that the price of bitcoin may continue to accelerate next year as it gains widespread adoption.
Speaking yesterday to CNBC’s ‘Squawk Box‘, Dave Chapman, managing director of cryptocurrency trading firm Octagon Strategy, said that he thinks bitcoin could reach $100,000 by the end of 2018.
He said:
I wouldn’t be surprised to see a six figure headline.
Chapman has made bullish bets on the digital currency in the past. He previously made the projection that bitcoin would reach $10,000 before the end of the year. The cryptocurrency is currently trading at $17,161, according to CoinMarketCap.
Chapman added:
I think a lot of people thought I was crazy, a lot of people scoffed at me, but that’s OK.
Throughout 2017 there has been a significant rise in interest from institutional investors keen to jump on board. Not only that, but the recent launch of Chicago-based exchange Cboe’s bitcoin futures contract has helped to push the value of the digital currency up.
Yesterday saw the first full day of trading, which, at one point, bumped bitcoin’s value up by 20 percent. As a result, trading was halted for five minutes. However, despite this Ed Tilly, Cboe’s CEO, stated that everything had gone according to plan.
Fellow Chicago-based exchange CME Group is due to launch its own bitcoin futures contract on the 18th December. Both U.S. traditional financial exchanges received regulated approval from the U.S. Commodities and Futures Trade Commission (CFTC) last week.
It’s thought that the launch of the bitcoin derivative products will help to push bitcoin further into the mainstream. However, according to Chapman, the price of the cryptocurrency is not the most interesting part of it, adding:
I’m more excited in the applications and more excited about what this means for people who don’t have access to financial inclusion.
According to Chapman, if we focus too much on the price of bitcoin then we are losing the big picture.
Interestingly, despite the rising value of bitcoin many naysayers argue that it is in a bubble.
Recently, Stephen Roach, a Yale University senior fellow and the former Asia chairman and chief economist at Morgan Stanley, made the claim that it was a ‘ďangerous speculative bubble,’ and that ‘like all bubbles, they burst.’
Chapman remains convinced, though, of where the currency is going. In his opinion, it is ‘growing up.’ As a result, it is hitting back at critics who are failing to see it’s potential, particularly within the financial sector.