Crypto price prediction: Could Ripple, Bitcoin and Ethereum return to previous high?
Bitcoin had a good weekend, hitting a high of $10,963 at the time of press.
Ethereum is up at $947 with Ripple up 1.03percent at $1.15.
The total market cap for all cryptocurrencies stands at $484,989,000,000.
The rises come after a damaging month for cryptocurrencies as a whole. After peaking at about $834billion on January 7, the market plunged an eye-watering 66 percent, wiping out some $553billion, according to CoinMarketCap.
But with Bitcoin, Ripple and Ethereum all back in the green today, many crypto experts are confident that the market can reach new heights this year.
Could Ripple, Bitcoin and Ethereum return to previous high?
Thomas Glucksmann of GateCoin told CNBC: “Increasing regulatory recognition of cryptocurrency exchanges, the entrance of institutional capital and major technology developments will contribute to the market's rebound and push cryptocurrency prices to all new highs this year.”
He added bitcoin, the biggest and best-known cryptocurrency, could be “pushing $50,000 by December”.
Jamie Burke, CEO at Outlier Ventures, is bullish about the cryptocurrency market, insisting it has the potential to reach $1trillion.
He told CNBC: “We believe after February the market will likely go on a bull run comparative if not greater than last year potentially reaching the trillion-dollar mark before a proper crypto winter sets in where the market becomes more focused on proper market fundamentals.”
And Panos Mourdoukoutas, writing for Forbes, suggested that after “ being in a deep correction for a few weeks, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, and Litecoin have been coming back nicely over the last week, gaining 19.87%, 10.48%, 30.57%, and 53.90% respectively”.
He added the crypto turnaround after the recent crash comes as equity markets rebounded from the sell-off early in the month.
And he also wrote the cryptocurrency “technicals” remain strong, saying “83 cryptocurrencies [are] advancing and only 17 declining among the top 100 listed currencies.”
Dennis de Jong, managing director of UFX, says he believes cryptocurrencies remain strong and will not plummet for good in 2018.
He told Express.co.uk: “It may not capture the headlines like the volatility of bitcoin has in recent months, but there have been considerable advances in the underlying technology of the blockchain.
(html comment removed: Start of Brightcove iframe Player )“Many industries are already live with, or in the process of testing, blockchain use cases that have potentially huge knock-ons for data management and security advancements.
“The relationship between crypto usage and investment in the space underpins bitcoin’s value to an extent, and for this reason I can’t see it going anywhere soon."
But as central banks attempt to kickstart regulation - Citibank India being the latest financial authority this week to ban cryptocurrency payments on debit or credit card - some investors believe the market slump could be an indicator of an overall crash in all financial markets.
Bleakley Financial Group CIO Peter Boockvar said: “If bitcoin resumes its decline here, I think that equity investors should pay attention.”
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