Crypto enthusiasts are beside themselves with glee. The apparent excitement on Twitter feeds and other social media is palpable. Bitcoin continues to amaze, as it strikes out for new 2019 conquests. Tyler Winklevoss, the co-founder of the Gemini exchange, perhaps, summed it up best in his recent Tweet:
Bitcoin breaking 8k this time around feels a lot different than the last time. So much progress has been made since then and it’s only the bottom of the first inning.
There is one other difference that a few analysts have also noted. There has been a continual stream of good news that is spreading across global news channels, alerting investors outside the crypto space and uninformed consumers about the Bitcoin miracle. Tom Lee at Fundstrat remarked:
That’s really important because bringing in that new interest into managed crypto can really push bitcoin to its all-time high.
As we have written, there is a host of fundamental reasons that are all taking place concurrently to build a level of momentum that no one expected, especially after the industry was rocked by an alleged scandal at Tether and a never-before-seen breach of the Binance security protocols for $40 million. Whether the parabolic rise has been caused by BTC Whales on the move or the advent of 40 million trading customers from the likes of Fidelity, TD Ameritrade, and E*Trade, the result has been astonishing. One headline read:
Bitcoin Bulls Are Back: 40 Days of Uptrend Erases Nearly 8 Months of Bear Market.
Cynics had already begun to label favorable predictions for Bitcoin’s future price point as “irrational exuberance”, but the rise in geopolitical tensions over trade wars has generated another way of thinking. After Trump the “Tariff Man” brought the hammer down on equity markets the other day, investors have been searching for “safe havens”, while bailing out of stock positions across the globe.
Co-Founder of Morgan Creek Digital, Anthony Pompliano, has some sage advice for these value-minded investors that are jumping ship:
JPMorgan is telling people that the trade war between the U.S. and China could boost safe-haven currencies. Bitcoin is the best safe haven currency in the world. Nervous about global chaos? Buy the strongest non-sovereign currency.
As quickly as analysts are updating their short-term and long-term projections, they may need to revert to a low-tech chalkboard with an eraser handy. Bitcoin has nearly doubled in value in six weeks, while its altcoin brethren have responded, as well, but not quite as greatly. Bitcoin’s all-time peak of nearly $20,000 does not sound that outlandish anymore. Mike Novogratz, a former Goldman Sachs banker and founder of Galaxy Digital, has already predicted a full recovery to $20,000 over the next 18 months, and no one from the opposite side of the spectrum is shouting him down.
In the meantime, the crypto industry’s biggest soiree is in progress in New York City — Blockchain Week NYC and CoinDesk’s Consensus 2019 event. The list of speakers is impressive: FedEx’s Fred Smith, Fidelity’s Abigail Johnson, Twitter and Square’s Jack Dorsey, chairman of the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission, Jay Clayton, and U.S. presidential hopeful, Andrew Yang.
Be on the lookout for announcements from on high, as attending corporate executives attempt one-upmanship on their fellow competitors. It makes for interesting headlines, and just one more fundamental push that might move Bitcoin even higher into the stratosphere. As Simon Peters, an analyst at brokerage eToro, recently noted:
We could be at the start of a very long bull run for crypto-assets.