(ANTIMEDIA) Washington, D.C. — As further evidence that interest in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin is currently booming, consider these opening lines from a CNBC article on Wednesday:
“An unidentified man held up a sign saying ‘buy bitcoin’ during Fed Chair Janet Yellen’s testimony Wednesday before the House Financial Services Committee.
“Bitcoin subsequently climbed toward session highs and traded 3.7 percent higher, at $2,418.46, as of 2:27 p.m. ET, according to CoinDesk.”
The incident was caught on camera, and the Bitcoin supporter was escorted from the hearing room on the grounds that the sign violated House Committee rules. Yellen herself didn’t comment on the subject of cryptocurrencies during her testimony.
While many would undoubtedly applaud — and maybe even chuckle at — the man’s actions, CNBC itself points out in the article that it’s not as if Bitcoin really needs free publicity.
Last week, former JPMorgan Chase chief equity strategist and co-founder of Fundstrat Global Advisors, Tom Lee, laid out his predictions for where the price of Bitcoin is headed. And in Lee’s view, it’s headed way, way up:
“We believe one of the drivers [of bitcoin] is crypto-currencies are cannibalizing demand for gold. Based on this premise, we take a stab at establishing valuation framework for bitcoin. Based on our model, we estimate that bitcoin’s value per unit could be $20,000 to $55,000 by 2022.”
Lee argues that the limited supply of Bitcoin — there are only 21 million available units — coupled with growing demand will continue to drive up the price. Lee also predicts that when the total market value of Bitcoin tops $500 billion, central banks will begin to consider buying in. And that, says Lee, may alter the landscape entirely:
“In our view, this is a game changer, enhancing the legitimacy of the currency and likely accelerating the substitution for gold (by investors).”
Also last week, Goldman Sachs’ head of technical strategy, Sheba Jafari, predicted Bitcoin could soon rise to nearly $4,000.
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