Everyone following the meteoric rise of Bitcoin is now asking themselves: What are the reasons for this steady incline? When does it end? And what will the future of Bitcoin be like?

Reasons for Bitcoin's recent value increase

Bitcoin will soon cross the $4,000 mark - I actually can't quite believe that, and any other early adopters will probably agree with me.
I still remember when Bitcoin was valued at around $100 in 2013, and how big of a deal it was when it first crossed the magical $1,000 mark in late 2013, before staying at a relatively steady low for almost 2 and a half years.
So to think that we're almost at $4,000 now - that's insane!

Of course, there are countless factors that influence the Bitcoin price, but I'd just like to mention the 2 main ones for now:

Reason 1) - Bitcoin Split And SegWit

Ever since the Bitcoin Fork on August 1 where we saw the split into Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Bitcoin has been on a steady rise.
Now, as SegWit has locked in as well, we can definitely say that the whole scaling debate is over and that Bitcoin came out superior.
(Note: The whole issue was that the Bitcoin network needed to be scaled in order to process transactions quicker. That's why SegregatedWitness, a technology to do just that, was established. A small group of Bitcoiners didn't agree with the concept of SegWit, which is why they wanted to create their own currency: Bitcoin Cash. Prior to the fork, many speculators weren't sure how this major event would affect the price - but as we can see now, it was a success for Bitcoin!)

"With SegWit locked in, and an effective split between two camps with differing visions for the asset (BTC and BCH), it is now experiencing a relief rally. A greater number of entities, including institutions, are waking up to bitcoin's merits as a currency that is uncorrelated to the traditional capital markets."

-Chris Burniske, author of the upcoming book, "Cryptoassets: The Innovative Investor's Guide to Bitcoin and Beyond."

Reason 2) - North Korea Nuclear Threat

As mentioned above, the tensions between North Korea and the US are getting more and more serious. The nuclear threat is no joke anymore.
Whenever there's a political crisis, cryptocurrency prices surge - we've seen that countless times already in the past, for example during the state of emergency in greek banks.
People would rather keep their money in cryptocurrency than in the banks, because in case North Korea and the US enter a conflict, Bitcoin wouldn't be affected by possible outcomes like capital controls, weakened currency or inflation.

“We’re seeing investors transferring their funds into cryptocurrencies as they try to diversify their risk in case of a severe downturn in the market. The space has gone from niche to more widely adopted with one of the main draws being that crypto currencies are seen as less correlated with other assets.”

-Ron Chernesky, CEO of trading platform InvestFeed

The Future of Bitcoin

Bitcoin is getting more and more mainstream - there's no doubt about it.
Several countries have actually accepted Bitcoin as an official payment method this year - among them Japan and South Korea.
Although some critics are still committed that Bitcoin is a Bubble, we can clearly see the upward trend and I personally don't think that the "bubble" will burst anytime soon - or maybe at all.
Imagine a future where Bitcoin is finally accepted in all major stores, and where people use cryptocurrency conveniently and easily through apps and credit cards. That would be awesome!

No one can predict the future value of Bitcoin for sure, but let's look at some experts' analytics:

$5,000 in 2018, $50,000 in 10 years

6 weeks ago, the stock picker and analyst Ronnie Moas stated that Bitcoin could reach a value of $5,000 in 2018, and $50,000 by 2027. He has made over 900 stock recommendations in the last 13 years so we can definitely say he has some experience.
While $5,000 in 2018 almost seems like a logical consequence to the current price level of almost $4,000, having a Bitcoin value of $50,000 in 10 years is an interesting speculation and would mean a huge increase.

“There are only 21,000,000 bitcoins in circulation and the world will fight over those 21 million coins as confidence in currency and other investments deteriorates. I have little doubt that 1% of the money in cash, bonds, stocks and gold will end up in cryptocurrencies.” -Ronnie Moas

$10,000 by 2020

Kumar Gaurav, Founder of the Cashaa - Auxesis Group predicts that Bitcoin could be valued at $10,000 in the next 3 years.
He states that Bitcoin has been on a parabolic curve when looking at the statistics of the last few years, and that it will likely continue this trend.
Bitcoin has already achieved so much with only a minimal fraction of the population supporting it.
So now, as mainstream firms, financial institutions and the media finally realized the potential of Bitcoin, the rise will be even more dramatic!

$100,000 in 10 years

Kay Van-Petersen, an analyst at Saxo Bank has told CNBC that he thinks the Bitcoin price could reach $100,000 within the next 10 years.
Until that time, he suggests Bitcoin will probably achieve a trillion dollar market cap too.
Van-Petersen also predicts that the daily trading volume of the crypto market will be accountable for minimum 10% of the average daily volumes of fiat currency trades - which translates to a $500 bln trading volume.

"This is not a fad, cryptocurrencies are here to stay. There will emerge two to three main ones. Bitcoin will be one of those. And the reason is the first-mover advantage, the scale and the pioneering."

All of these are just speculations and I personally think that so much has happened in the crypto world in the past months alone - I can hardly imagine where all of this will go in 5 or 10 years time.

What do you guys think? How will the Bitcoin value rise in the future? Let me know!