UPDATED 23:18 EST / NOVEMBER 27 2017

EMERGING TECH

Bitcoin teases $10,000 as one hedge fund manager says price could hit $40,000 next year

The price of bitcoin teased the $10,000 mark in trading Monday, actually passing it on some Asian exchanges, as continued good news surrounding the cryptocurrency led one hedge fund manager to predict that the price could hit $40,000 by the end of 2018.

Bitcoin first hit $10,000 on South Korea-based bitcoin exchanges Bithumb, Coinone and Korbit, while directly to the east, the price of bitcoin hit a high of ¥1,115,558 ($10,033.33) Tuesday local time on BitFlyer, Japan’s largest exchange. In Hong Kong, the price of bitcoin was sitting at HKD 79568 ($10197.17) on Gatecoin as of 11 p.m. EST.

By contrast, the price of bitcoin in the U.S. was sitting at $9,710.08 as of 11 p.m. EST, according to the latest figure from Coindesk’s bitcoin price tracker.

Less than a week ago, one analyst said that bitcoin could hit $14,000 in 2018 while noting that he was “not trying to be a hero and compete with people on the internet for who has the highest bitcoin price.” Now the continued bull run in the bitcoin market has led to the prediction of much higher prices to come.

Famed hedge fund manager Michael Novogratz made the prediction, telling CNBC that “bitcoin could be at $40,000 at the end of 2018. It easily could.” He also predicted that the price of Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, could triple in valuation in the year ahead.

“There’s a big wave of money coming [into bitcoin], not just here but all around the world,” Novogratz noted. He pointed to positive news, including CME Group Inc.’s expected launch of bitcoin futures trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in the second week of December.

Nuveen Asset Management Chief Equity Strategist Bob Doll was another to praise the rise of bitcoin. In an interview, he said its jump to new highs has been nothing short of amazing. He added that the saying of late is, “With bitcoin, why do you need the stock market?”

Image: Pixabay

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