Bitcoin and cryptocurrency prices have rebounded after a sudden sell-off last weekend wiped around $300 billion from the combined crypto market—with some betting the market is heading far higher.
The bitcoin price is now trading almost 30% down from its all-time high of around $69,000 per bitcoin set last month, settling at just over $50,000 after crashing to under $42,000. Smaller cryptocurrencies ethereum, Binance’s BNB, solana, cardano, and Ripple’s XRP have also bounced back after the crash.
Now, one financial adviser has made a stark bitcoin and crypto price prediction, warning cryptocurrency “is one of the biggest bubbles ever” and when it bursts “it’s going to be ugly.”
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The bitcoin price fell sharply last weekend, dragging down the price of ethereum, Binance’s BNB, … [+]
“This whole bitcoin thing—this whole cryptocurrency—is one of the biggest bubbles ever,” Ryan Payne, president of Payne Capital Management, told Yahoo Finance. “I do think that bubble is eventually going to burst. It’s going to be ugly.”
The bitcoin and crypto market has rocketed over the last year, soaring amid a wider equity and asset price rally. Bitcoin has gone from a combined value of just $400 billion this time 12 months ago to around $1 trillion today.
“[The crypto market] is somewhere over $2 trillion. When the dot com bubble burst, those dot com stocks were worth like half a billion dollars. Inflation-adjusted that’s like $1 trillion in today’s dollars. Most of those stocks became worthless,” said Payne.
Many smaller cryptocurrencies, such as ethereum and its biggest rivals Binance’s BNB, solana and cardano, have made even greater percentage gains than bitcoin, climbing at a blistering pace as investors pile into the market—in part thanks to the massive financial stimulus programs launched by the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks to offset the economic damage done by Covid-19 lockdowns.
“There’s too much money out there that can funnel into this market. It’s just becoming a bigger and bigger casino,” said Payne.
“At the end of the day, we’re not using it for that much more commercial use. It’s just more people speculating and I think it’s very analogous to when the tech bubble burst or you go back to the housing bubble … where everybody’s involved.”
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The bitcoin price has soared over the last year, though the likes of ethereum, Binance’s BNB, … [+]
Others, notably the investor Michael Burry, famed for his bet against the housing market in 2007 and portrayed by Christian Bale in the 2015 film The Big Short, have also warned the bitcoin and crypto market is heading for a crash. In October, Burry asked his Twitter followers “how do you short a cryptocurrency?”
Last week, Warren Buffett’s right-hand man, Berkshire Hathaway
“The dot com boom was crazier in terms of valuations than even what we have now,” Munger told the Sohn Hearts & Minds Investment Conference in Sydney.
“But overall, I consider this era even crazier than the dot com era. I just can’t stand participating in these insane booms. Everybody wants to pile in, and I have a different attitude. I want to make my money by selling people things that are good for them, not things that are bad for them.”
Munger also said he wished cryptocurrencies had “never been invented,” echoing Buffett’s previous bitcoin and crypto criticisms and praising China for having banned bitcoin outright.
