Standpoint Raises Bitcoin Target To $28,000, Encourages Crypto Diversification

Bitcoin surged to yet another new all-time high Thursday, crossing above the $15,000 level for the first time.

But while some onlookers see bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as a massive financial bubble, others say the bitcoin rally is just getting started.

The Analyst

For the fourth time in a month, Standpoint Research analyst Ronnie Moas raised his price target for bitcoin. After previously raising it from $7,500 to $11,000 then $14,000 then $20,000, Moas now says bitcoin will hit $28,000 by the end of 2018. Moas previously set a longer-term target of $60,000 by 2022.

The Thesis

More countries are embracing cryptocurrencies and removing barriers that kept investors away, Moas said in November. Moas sees bitcoin, which has a total market cap of $268 billion, as a legitimate alternative to gold, which has a global supply valued at around $7 trillion.

“Bitcoin has now jumped by 50% in the last week,” Moas wrote Thursday. “This flies in the face of reports that multiple national governments are scheming to regulate or curtail domestic cryptocurrency usage.”

Moas has said there’s an argument that bitcoin’s market cap will be equal to gold’s within 15 years.

Despite his bold, bullish predictions, Moas said cryptocurrency investors shouldn’t put all their eggs in one backet and should instead invest in at least a dozen different currencies among the top 50 cryptos by market cap. Moas previously said investors should shrug off bubble concerns from the likes of Jamie Dimon and Warren Buffett, since each of those prominent Wall Street CEOs is heavily invested in the traditional banking industry that's threatened by bitcoin.

Price Action

The Bitcoin Investment Trust GBTC is up another 9.4 percent on Thursday and is now up 1,400 percent year-to-date.

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