- Some of the highest-profile names on Wall Street have issued bullish long-term bitcoin price predictions this year.
- Goldman Sachs said that the cryptocurrency can reach $100,000 if it continues to grab gold's market share.
- Insider looks at what all the biggest banks have said about bitcoin in 2022.
Bitcoin's price surged last year, propelling it into the top 10 assets by total market capitalization, meaning it was too big for analysts at banks like Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Bank of America to ignore.
Two of those Wall Street giants have set long-term bullish price targets for the $800 billion cryptocurrency. Goldman's co-head of global forex and emerging markets strategy Zach Pandl charted a path for bitcoin to eventually hit $100,000, while JPMorgan strategist Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou renewed the bank's high-profile target of $146,000 in November.
Bank of America, meanwhile, launched its digital asset hedge in an October 2021 report that argued that the crypto space is now simply "too big to ignore."
โCryptocurrency-based digital assets could form a whole new asset class,โ said strategist Alkesh Shah. "It's hard to overstate how transformative blockchain technology, digital assets, and the thousands of decentralized applications yet to be created could be."
But some financial institutions have maintained a more bearish stance on bitcoin. The Swiss bank UBS, which manages assets worth 2.6 trillion dollars, considers cryptocurrencies as purely speculative, even after the launch of more sophisticated investment products like ProShares' BitcoinETFs.
"We view direct exposure to cryptocurrencies and tokens as suitable only for highly risk-tolerant investors," said a team led by the bank's chief investment officer, Mark Haefele. "While we see potential for the technologies that underpin digital assets, we continue to view the coins themselves as speculative."
Insider breaks down all available bitcoin price predictions from some of the top Wall Street analysts.
Bitcoin Price Outlook
Goldman Sachs The strategists said that bitcoin could hit $100,000 if it continues to take gold's market share as a 'store of value' asset. This refers to the idea that more investors will buy bitcoins as a hedge against inflation, although analysts note that bitcoins
volatility
would have to back off significantly to make it an attractive alternative.
โBitcoin market share will most likely increase over time as a byproduct of the broader adoption of digital assets, and possibly due to Bitcoin-specific scaling solutions,โ Pandl wrote in a blog post. recent note. "If bitcoin's share of the 'reserve of value' market increased to 50% in the next five years, its price would rise to just over $100,000."
โDigital asset markets are much larger than bitcoin, but we think comparing its market capitalization to gold can help benchmark plausible outcomes for bitcoin returns,โ he added.
Pandl estimated that bitcoin's $700 billion market capitalization gave it a 20% share of the "store of value market." Cryptocurrencies have recovered since you wrote your note, which means that Bitcoin
market cap
now it stands at just under $800 billion.
JPMorgan renewed its long-term price target of $146,000 in November, arguing that investors increasingly see the crypto asset as a digital alternative to gold.
โThe resurgence of inflation concerns among investors during September/October 2021 appears to have renewed interest in using bitcoin as an inflation hedge,โ Panigirtzoglou said. "Considering how big the financial investment in gold is, any displacement of gold as an 'alternative' currency implies a huge upside for bitcoin in the long run."
But JPMorgan clients doubt that Bitcoin will reach a new all-time high price this year. In a recent survey of 47 customers, 41% said they expect the digital asset to be priced at $60,000 by the end of the year, with only 5% predicting it will exceed $100,000 at this point.
Citi Group Analysts appear to have significantly overestimated investor interest in digital assets, with a leaked 2020 note predicting that bitcoin would hit $318,000 by December 2021. The bank's FX technical director, Tom Fitzpatrick, also called bitcoin "21st century gold."
Morgan Stanley was the first Wall Street bank to offer its wealthiest customers access to bitcoin, launch of three funds in March 2021. Its total exposure to bitcoin is now $300 million, according to Cointelegraph.
Bank of America, Red blood cells, Y fargo wells They all started covering cryptocurrencies as investable assets last year, but those banks have yet to release an official bitcoin price prediction.
"Cryptocurrencies, in our opinion, have now become a valid consideration as a portfolio option for qualified investors," Wells Fargo's global investment strategy team wrote in a statement. investigation Note. "The low 5-year and 10-year correlations with traditional asset class returns suggest that the long-term determinants of cryptocurrency prices differ from those of traditional investment assets."
"In this way, cryptocurrencies are potential portfolio diversifiers, which we believe adds to [their] stability and viability," added the team.
