Bitcoin could soar to $100,000 by the end of next year as demand rapidly exceeds supply, a crypto investor says
- Bitcoin could surge to $100,000 by the end of 2021, according to the crypto investor Anthony Pompliano.
- Pompliano, a cofounder of Morgan Creek Digital, told CNBC on Wednesday that demand for Bitcoin was rapidly exceeding supply and that the macroeconomic environment of low interest rates was "rocket fuel" for the cryptocurrency's price.
- "I don't think it's that crazy to see a $100,000 bitcoin price by the end of 2021," Pompliano said. "And if we continue to get bigger and bigger buyers ... if this kind of tips over and all of the sudden it becomes kind of a consensus trade, it wouldn't surprise me to see something even higher than $100,000."
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Bitcoin could surge to $100,000 by the end of 2021, according to the crypto investor Anthony Pompliano. The coin traded as high as $19,389 on Wednesday and is nearing its all-time high, reached in 2017.
Pompliano, a cofounder of Morgan Creek Digital, told CNBC on Wednesday that demand for the coin was rapidly outpacing supply, especially after its "halving" in May, when the number of bitcoins awarded to miners was cut in half. This occurs roughly every four years and serves to limit the supply of bitcoin coming into the market.
Bitcoin is "the winner of a supply-and-demand exercise," Pompliano said.
Pompliano added that the macroeconomic environment right now was "rocket fuel" for Bitcoin. Low interest rates, money printing, and the Federal Reserve's average inflation target of 2% have driven retail and institutional investors into Bitcoin, he said.
The investor also said that Janet Yellen, President-elect Joe Biden's pick for treasury secretary, was "notorious" for tolerating higher levels of inflation and that this could also push the coin's price higher.
"I don't think it's that crazy to see a $100,000 bitcoin price by the end of 2021," Pompliano said. "And if we continue to get bigger and bigger buyers ... if this kind of tips over and all of the sudden it becomes kind of a consensus trade, it wouldn't surprise me to see something even higher than $100,000."
Bitcoin has surged by roughly 160% this year as more major investors and institutions acknowledge the cryptocurrency's legitimacy as a store of value. The billionaire hedge-fund manager Stanley Druckenmiller told CNBC earlier this month that he owned a "tiny bit" of bitcoin as a hedge against inflationary pressure, while the venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya said in February that every citizen should hold 1% of their assets in bitcoin because it's a "fantastic hedge."
Despite his bullish view, Pompliano shared two potential risks he sees for Bitcoin.
"The first thing's a self-inflicted wound, right, if there's a bug introduced into the code or something like that," he said. "The second thing would be some sort of geopolitical risk where we saw a really aggressive coordinated kind of action by multiple nation-states.
"But again, I think that those things are very low probability of occurring, so it doesn't really kind of seem like that's going to happen in the short term."
Pompliano's Morgan Creek Digital is an investment firm that helps public pensions, university endowments, and private foundations invest in blockchain technology.