Author
Tatsiana Yablonskaya
Taking strong interest in blockchain, cryptocurrencies, and IoT, Tatsiana Yablonskaya got deep understanding of the emerging techs believing in their potential to drive the future.
Most bitcoin experts agree that bitcoin’s price will continue its growth in 2016.
Many experts, moving in the bitcoin community, share the opinion that 2016 will be crucial for the cryptocurrency. Let’s sum up the most influential opinions.
Bitcoin was created in 2008 by Satoshi Nakamoto. This is obviously a pseudonym – real name and personality of the creator remain a mystery.
There has been a sensational story recently with a “surprising unmasking” of Satoshi. Australian entrepreneur Craig Steven Wright got in the news and it still remains unknown whether this was done on purpose or not.
But we are leaving Satoshi aside, as recalling the history of bitcoin’s creation we wanted to focus on the fact that according to the bitcoin program its reward is halved every four years. The next scheduled term is July 2016.
Bitcoin was also designed to emulate a commodity by having a finite supply of 21 million bitcoins, which will be reached in around 125 years, up from around 15 million today.
The mining reward was halved last time in November 2012, from 50 to 25 bitcoins. Although the stakes were much lower then (one bitcoin worth around $12), the price still increased by about 150 percent in the preceding seven months – roughly the time left before the next halving.
Jeremy Millar, partner at London-based financial technology specialists Magister Advisors, expects demand to continue to increase. “Halving dampens supply so, all other things being equal, that puts upwards pressure on price,” he says.
Many in the bitcoin community believe that the cryptocurrency will demonstrate further growth due to the higher adoption of cryptocurrency. During the whole autumn a gradual boost was observed and last month bitcoin’s price reached its peak of $500. The last time the price held such a high position was in August last year.
Meanwhile Bobby Lee, the chief executive of one of the leading bitcoin exchanges in China, BTCC, predicts that the cryptocurrency will go much further. According to him the price can increase severalfold within next months and make up $3,500 by next summer. “Today the worth of bitcoin is $1 per capita in the world (population),” Lee said, referring to the value of all the bitcoins in circulation, around $6.5 billion. “For such an innovative, decentralized digital asset, I say ‘boy, are we undervaluing it’. But it takes a while for people to realize that.”
Such prominent figures in the bitcoin world as Winklevoss brothers also stick to the opinion that bitcoin hasn’t realized its potential yet. As a reminder Gemini, a bitcoin exchanged started by Tyler and Cameron, received approval from the New York State Department of Financial Services in October 2015. “We are fascinated with Bitcoin because it is the first iteration of money that’s actually built for the Internet, by the same type of engineers who built the Internet itself,” brothers admit. They insist that the fact of governmental regulation of bitcoin proves the increasing trust in the cryptocurrency. Bitcoin is “doomed” to completely rewire the way the Internet works.