With high volatility, institutional adoption and a record price level, 2021 will be remembered as one of the most important years in the history of Bitcoin. The crypto asset started this year at a price level of $29,000 and climbed to an all-time high of $69,000 on 8 November 2021. Since then, the digital currency has been in a downtrend. BTC is currently trading near $47,000, and it seems like the cryptocurrency will end the year below $50,000. Even with the recent correction, Bitcoin’s 65% gain in 2021 still makes it one of the best performing financial assets in the world.
However, BTC’s price jump is not the only reason for BTC supporters to celebrate. The institutional adoption from companies like Tesla and strong network activities, including surging active BTC wallets, record mining hash rate and the rising number of BTC whales have made a strong case for Bitcoin bulls to be optimistic about 2022. According to crypto analysts, $100,000 for one BTC, a price level that has been the talking point throughout the year, can become a reality in 2022. While everyone believes that BTC looks set to hit another all-time high in 2022, uncertainties still loom around the required time to achieve that target.
“The chances that Bitcoin will hit a new all-time high in 2022 are high, going by the fact that a new uptrend course was charted this year. However, the projection that this ATH will be attained in the first half of the year is where things become tricky. Investors naturally react based on the sentiment that the beginning of the year is ample time to take a position in crypto to ride the train all year long and cart away with profits later on in the year. Based on this, we may see this trend brought to life as there is an impending economic crisis as nations are imposing new restrictions per Omicron variant and investors may look to BTC as one of the best performing safe-haven assets around today,” Ilman Shazhaev, the Executive Chairman of the digital asset management company, OneBoost, said.
Bitcoin’s Network Activity in Q1 2022
BTC’s network activity in the first quarter of 2022 will set the tone for the rest of the year. According to Shazhaev, the $100,000 price level for Bitcoin in the first quarter of 2022 is only possible if its network activity jumps to the levels it achieved in 2017. “Given that the network activity of the users on the Bitcoin blockchain was higher in 2017, and if the network activity rises to those levels in 2022, the chances of $100,000 being reached in this year will be much higher,” Shazhaev added.
From the current price level, Bitcoin needs a jump of approximately 110% within the first quarter of 2022 to achieve the target of $100,000. Just to put things into perspective, BTC spiked by almost 120% during the first quarter of 2021.
Bitcoin at $100,000
Sven Wenzel, the Co-Founder of Switzerland-based Castello Coin, believes that BTC is likely to hit $100,000 in 2022. “There are many ambitious predictions that preceded Bitcoin before the start of 2021, and one of the prominent projections is that the premier digital currency will trade at a $100,000 ATH. With barely 24 hours left before the end of the year, attaining this projection is obviously no longer possible. However, 2022 is another year that many believe will herald the great price milestone, a feat that is likely should the coin rewrite history by printing a similar growth rate as it did in the first quarter of this year when Tesla invested $1.5 billion into purchasing the coin,” Wenzel, said.
Uncertainties
While BTC bulls are optimistic about the future price action of the digital asset, there are still several uncertainties around Bitcoin. “We don’t know yet, many investors pointed out this price months ago but we’ve no certainty at all. Also, crypto winter is coming so, wait and see how big whales move BTC,” Joaquim Matinero Tor, a Blockchain Associate at Roca Junyent, commented.
"Anything is possible, though reaching $100k by the end of Q1 seems unlikely. Part of the reason why we saw all-time highs in 2021 was that retail investors entered the market, drawn by the general hype and mainstream media attention around bitcoin. Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen the markets take a significant downturn, with many retail investors losing quite a bit of money after having purchased bitcoin during its recent price peak. It may take a while for the retail opinion of bitcoin to be repaired, so $100k would be more likely to occur after Q1,” Adrian Kolody, a Co-Founder of Domination Finance, said.
Marc P. Bernegger, the Co-Founder of AltAlpha Digital, believes that more institutional investors will enter the Bitcoin space in 2022. With that, the case of $100,000/BTC will become stronger. “A short-term outlook for Bitcoin is always difficult but I definitely see $100,000 as the next big milestone. There is still a huge number of first-time Bitcoin investors joining the space, and 2022 will further attract institutional investors moving into digital assets,” Bernegger commented.
