Bloomberg just published its latest outlook on the crypto markets, predicting Bitcoin will outperform the altcoin market as it continues to solidify its place as the gold of digital assets.
Mike McGlone, the senior commodity strategist for Bloomberg Intelligence, says widespread adoption, limited supply and strengthening demand all point to a BTC price increase, especially relative to other cryptos. He points to Bitcoin’s performance over the last 365 days, with BTC dropping 12% compared to a 21% decline in the price of Ethereum (ETH) and a 56% loss in the price of XRP.
“Bitcoin will continue to outperform most of the highly speculative crypto assets, in our view. Down about 12% on a one-year basis, the [BTC] benchmark outshines peers’ performance.
Too much supply and ease of entry should continue to weigh on most alt-coins, still in an extended hangover from the parabolic gains to the 2017-18 peak. It’s the increasing differentiation, maturation and more widespread adoption that favors Bitcoin, which is becoming more of a gold-like store of value.”
McGlone says the number of active Bitcoin addresses used, a key signal of the 2018 price decline and 2019 recovery, indicate a Bitcoin value of $12,000, significantly higher than the $9,249 price at the time of writing. The Bloomberg analyst says BTC will likely shift towards its 2019 end-of-day high of $12,734.
He also points to the increasing popularity of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust as a bullish indicator for BTC.
“Strong inflows and the declining premium in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) indicate increasing demand and acceptance of the benchmark crypto into the mainstream of investable assets. Total fund assets of $3.5 billion are up about a third from a year ago, despite a 12% decline in the Bitcoin price at the start of July.”
Last month, McGlone made the case for why BTC may touch its all-time high of about $20,000 this year.