According to analysts, the market value of Bitcoin could reach parity with gold in five years, which implies a profit of 10 times.
The past few days in cryptocurrency have been some of the most surprising yet: a token of just a few days reached a market value of $ 45 billion, Dogecoin was used to pay for a space mission, and Ether scaled new peaks.
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As intraday traders and Wall Street professionals struggle to make sense of it all, Yassine Elmandjra, crypto analyst at Cathie Wood’s Ark Investment Management LLC, focuses on what the sector represents to him: a new paradigm for transferring and preserve wealth, with Bitcoin and Ether at the forefront.
“On a longer term time horizon, we definitely think this is the initial phase of what will be the birth of an entirely new asset class that we believe will be in the trillions of dollars,” Elmandjra said in an interview.
The market value of cryptocurrencies has already surpassed $ 2.5 trillion after explosive growth over the past year. Tokens outside of Bitcoin, which have retreated from a record set in April, have recently fueled the expansion. That sounds alarms for some strategists, who fear that broader acceptance of the sector by retailers is a sign of potentially unsustainable foam fueled by stimulus.
Dogecoin is a prime example of the problem for naysayers. The cryptocurrency that started as a hoax in 2013 now has a market value of around $ 65 billion, and has apparently been used to pay for a lunar satellite launch with Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX.
The token is testament to the power of memes, but “much of the value is speculative and ultimately we will see a loss of these prices,” Elmandjra said in the telephone interview on Tuesday. “But with that said, I can’t fault people for putting their money where their mouth is and considering something of subjective value when others can’t see it,” he added.
Bitcoin, ether
Elmandjra’s outlook for Bitcoin and Ether is that they both have a lot of potential left. Bitcoin is seen as a hedge against economic uncertainty and a mechanism to “guarantee absolute scarcity in the digital world,” he said, in addition to possible uses as a financial settlement network.
The comparison of Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency, with gold as a store of value remains controversial, but Elmandjra argued that Bitcoin’s market value could reach parity with gold in five years, implying a 10-fold profit. , according to their estimates.
Ether, in second place, rose to another record Wednesday and is up more than 2,000% over the past year to a market capitalization of roughly $ 500 billion. Elmandjra said Arca sees “like a multi trillion dollar opportunity.”
Ark invests in cryptocurrencies through vehicles such as the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust and through publicly traded companies with exposure to the sector, such as the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global Inc. Elmandjra said Ark also uses proprietary alternative strategies.
Ark funds have faced a tough time of late as a selloff swept through former market favorites in the tech sector amid a shift to less valuable stock market segments. The firm’s flagship Ark Innovation ETF has plunged more than 30% since its February peak.