Guggenheim's CIO Explains Why He Has Turned Bearish on Bitcoin After Predicting $400,000

In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Guggenheim’s Scott Minerd once again mentioned that $30,000 was not sustainable for Bitcoin.

He believes that institutional demand is too weak to support such a price tag for the largest cryptocurrency in the short-term:       

Right now, the reality of the institutional demand that would support a $35,000 price or even a $30,000 price is just not there.   

Bitcoin’s investor base is not big enough  

Minerd added that his firm had been keeping tabs on Bitcoin for years, but it didn’t want to get in because the market cap of the asset was way too small.

In December, he voiced his overly optimistic prediction, claiming that the top cryptocurrency could go to as high as $400,000, giving the most ardent crypto bulls a run for their money.

In less than a month, however, Minerd made a bearish U-turn, claiming that the market got too frothy. He recently went on CNBC to predict that Bitcoin could plunge to $20,000 without reaching a new all-time high this year. 

Based on technical analysis, he could see how Bitcoin could soar to new highs:

It was pretty easy to see that there was a clear path to $20,000. Once you got past $20,000, you could definitely see (based on technical work) how you could get to $35,000 or maybe even higher. 

However, he doesn’t think that Bitcoin’s investor base is actually big enough to support such levels.

Related

Tue, 01/26/2021 - 16:05

Three Reasons Why Bitcoin Just Plunged to $30,000

Alex Dovbnya

Bitcoin’s long-term viability

Nevertheless, Minerd asserts that Bitcoin’s viability as an asset class is “very likely” in the long run. On Jan. 15, he also doubled down on his $400,000 target. 

It remains to be seen whether or not the executive will change his tune next month when Guggenheim will finally get the SEC’s blessing to add the shares of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust to its portfolio.