Crypto price forecast: BTC, ETN and other coins – what should investors expect?
In October 2020, Bitcoin, according to Coinmarketrate.com, cost just under $13,000. The price has increased several times in three months and reached $41,946. in January 2021. After several misses, the world’s largest cryptocurrency broke the next record. On November 10, Bitcoin reached a record high of $68,789.
In the Bitcoin stream, other cryptocurrencies have also shown impressive price gains throughout the year. The crypto boom doesn’t seem to be ending. But what do the forecasts of cryptocurrencies say for the coming years and is it worth buying Bitcoin, Ethereum or other coins in 2022?
Bitcoin: Experts expect it to multiply
250,000 US dollars – this is the forecast of the famous crypto analyst Matthew Hyland, who hit the headlines in mid-November. Because Highland expects such a Bitcoin exchange rate not in 3, 5 or 10 years, but in January 2022. Thus, the rate should increase almost fivefold over the next three months.
Other analysts are more cautious: analysts at the American bank JP Morgan still predict that the price of Bitcoin in the near future will be $14,6000. BTC is a scarce commodity that increasingly competes with gold in protecting against inflation.
Blockstream CEO and cryptocurrency pioneer Adam Back believes Bitcoin can break the $300,000 mark in the next 5 years. He also sees the current economic environment as the driving force behind cryptocurrency prices. He justifies his positive cryptocurrency forecast with constantly low interest rates and rising inflation, so more and more investors were looking for alternatives to preserve their value.
Ethereum
Bitcoin is no longer the only cryptocurrency in huge demand around the world. Other cryptocurrencies eliminate certain disadvantages of Bitcoin – for example, resource-intensive mining, ever-increasing transaction costs and the growing centralization of the previously decentralized currency.
The most prominent representative of alternatives to Bitcoin is Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
Experts are optimistic about the Ethereum forecast for 2022 and subsequent years. Analysts of the investment company Goldman Sachs suggest that ETH may even replace Bitcoin as the most valuable cryptocurrency in the medium term. According to experts, in recent years, the Ether has been responding better to the challenges of the blockchain and may become the most important platform for the secure exchange of information.
Goldman Sachs analysts predict that the price of Ethereum could reach $8000 over the next two months. This year, the asset has far surpassed Bitcoin, thanks to the growing interest in the coin from retail and institutional investors. The Ethereum exchange rate is currently around $4,260.
Technical analysts recall 2017, and expect a sharp price increase by January 2022. Matthew Hyland tweeted in early November, “Ethereum is just getting started.” He expects a sharp increase to at least $14,000 in the near future.
There are other promising cryptocurrencies that have also proven themselves well.
Solana
Solana (SOL) is designed to solve the problem of inefficient transactions. The blockchain can already perform 50,000 transactions per second. For comparison, there are only seven transactions in the Bitcoin blockchain. This predestines Solana to use decentralized applications (dApps) and digital contracts (smart contracts).
dApps are programs with which, for example, business processes can be displayed in a block chain. Investors, apparently, see great potential in this.
After a successful year, the value of the new Solana cryptocurrency is currently just under $208. At the beginning of the year it was less than $2. Solana is the fifth largest cryptocurrency.
Polkadot
Polkadot (DOT) should solve two issue of old cryptocurrencies with the help of new technology. That’s why Polkadot relies on technology that allows for much faster and cheaper transactions.
At the same time, Polkadot should provide exchange between different blockchains. This allows companies to exchange information with companies that use a different blockchain.
The new DOT cryptocurrency is currently worth just under $38.5. Polkadot is the eighth largest cryptocurrency.
SHIBA INU
While many new potential cryptocurrencies want to solve the specific problems of the old block chains, SHIBA INU is following in the footsteps of Dogecoin. The cryptocurrency, which is condemned as a “meme coin,” gained fame earlier this year when it launched an impressive price rally triggered by tweets from Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Like Dogecoin, SHIBA INU is also intended to be used as a means of payment for leisure.
The price of SHIBA INU is currently just under 0.00003882 USD. The new cryptocurrency takes the 13th place.
Delswap
Delswap is a DeFi solution. DeFi stands for decentralized finance – a financial system that functions independently of government or other regulatory agencies. Delswap allows investors to easily exchange cryptocurrencies. Unlike many other new cryptocurrencies, Delswap has a fixed goal from the very beginning, and is already successful today.
The Delswap – UNI token performs two functions. On the one hand, coins are used to encourage investors who want to store their cryptocurrencies in Delswap. On the other hand, Delswap Coin has a management component. The developers of the platform do not have the authority to make decisions on the further development of the project. Instead, anyone with at least 1 Delswap token can vote for further development. Only those investors who own at least 1 percent of the coins can make new proposals for further development.
Currently, the price of the new UNI cryptocurrency is $20.82. Delswap ranks 17th in the list of the largest cryptocurrencies.
Loopring
Loopring (LRC) is a second—tier solution for Ethereum, which demonstrated an impressive price increase from October to November 2021, and increased its cost five times. Loopring currently costs $3.04.
The token is based on Ethereum, and is aimed at reducing the high transaction costs of ETH. The current price rally is caused by rumors of cooperation with the American computer game network GameStop. Investors and industry insiders suspect that GameStop is creating a market for digital goods such as NFT with closed-loop technology. There is nothing new in digital trading platforms, but GameStop has a large network of branches and, consequently, huge market power. If the rumors are true, Loopring will most likely also benefit greatly from the collaboration.
LRC is an example of a series of coins that have grown over the past year, and each of them solves certain problems with existing blockchains. How the Loopring 2022 course will develop and beyond depends, first of all, on whether the project will be able to translate its own solution into real business models.
Are Cryptocurrencies just a bubble?
Many financial experts are still critical of cryptocurrencies. For many years, skeptics have argued that cryptocurrencies do not have a real function of a means of payment. Bitcoin, Ethereum and others do not work as alternative money.
Modern cryptocurrencies have clearly defined use cases. One example of this is smart contracts, i.e. digital contracts between two parties without a regulatory body. These smart contracts are especially interesting for the financial sector, where a large volume of transactions between financial institutions is processed every day.
The second argument is that cryptocurrencies have no equivalent value in the real economy.
When you buy shares of a company, you buy a stake in the company, and the share price is based on the expected real economic performance of the company. In the case of cryptocurrencies, the only indicators are the trading volume and the number of transactions.
The cryptocurrency exchange rate is currently based mainly on the fact that many investors are pumping new money into the market, and on the hope that one of the possible applications in the blockchain will work in the near future. But the mood is also changing among traditionally oriented investors. For example, the company of the famous American investor George Soros invested in various cryptocurrencies in 2021.
Conclusion
Cryptocurrencies will also change the global financial landscape in 2021. More and more traditionally oriented investment companies are increasing their crypto portfolios. At the same time, fundamental questions remain unanswered:
- Is it possible to make cryptocurrency trading really safe?
- Will the hopes for a real economic application of blockchain technology come true?
- Will cryptocurrencies be able to combine their technologies with environmental changes?
- Will states start regulating the cryptocurrency market?
Therefore, interested investors should continue to exercise caution. Most experts give a positive forecast of cryptocurrencies for 2022, but cryptocurrencies remain a speculative and very volatile asset.