Key Takeaways:
- Bitcoin price trades sideways near $50,000 as traders assess outlook for growth
- Billionaire Barry Sternlicht says bitcoin is a “smart” hedge against inflation
What’s Today’s News in Crypto?
The world’s largest cryptocurrency, bitcoin, paused its upside swing on Wednesday, after gaining 20% since the flash crash on Saturday. The price of the original digital currency fluctuated near the $50,000 milestone as traders sought direction in a quiet trading session.
Following a 20% drop on Saturday, bitcoin is still about $3,000 short of recouping all its losses after the steep drop. Still, the biggest coin by market value maintained a steady upside momentum earlier in the week as crypto traders bought the dip.
Despite the weekend dive, bitcoin is still up about 70% this year. Other coins, however, have performed better both in the short term, and the long term.
This said, the Ethereum token boasts a return of over 500% since January. This week alone, Ether has already clawed back its weekend losses and is trading near $4,400 per coin.
What’s the Price of Bitcoin?
Bitcoin, on the other hand, remains pinned near $50,000 Thursday morning. With this in mind, the price of the leading crypto asset, according to many, is an attractive place to enter the market. Bitcoin, at current levels, is around 27% below its all-time high of $69,000 set Nov. 10.
To this end, many crypto backers are confident the rally will continue with bitcoin moving above its current record.
What is the Future of Cryptocurrency?
In that context, billionaire Barry Sternlicht said the future of bitcoin and crypto is strongly positive. Further, he predicted bitcoin “would go to $1 million a coin.”
“It could do that because everyone, it’s not U.S. investors, the whole world will look at one thing that they can’t make more of and that would be bitcoin.”
Mr. Sternlicht, who runs a $100-billion investment firm, explained why he has about 3% of his net worth in BTC.
“They are going to try really hard to break the dollar standard. If that happens and the dollar devalues, you need one thing that could hold its value.”
Going deeper, he emphasized that bitcoin is a store of value and an inflation hedge. “There’s no function other than a store of value. So having a little investment in bitcoin, I think, might be a smart little hedge in your life because your paper will be worthless, unfortunately,” he warned.