Ken Goldberg – Bitcoin Will Be Worth $3.50 in the Near Future
We have seen many different price speculation pieces in the press regarding Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Perhaps one of the more famous wrong predictions was that of Professor Bitcorn. However, it seems Ken Goldberg may have just raised the bar in this regard, as his latest opinion article on the Bitcoin price predicts a massive correction all the way to US$3.50. That opinion has already created a lot of bad blood between him and Bitcoin users.
KEN GOLDBERG RILES UP THE BITCOIN FAITHFUL
There are a lot of people who would like to see the Bitcoin price drop. Given the current momentum, there are plenty of investors who are disappointed that they never purchased BTC at lower prices. A market crash right now would certainly introduce a lot more investors to Bitcoin, although one could argue $3,000 per BTC is still a very low price as well. If it were left up to Ken Goldberg, however, the Bitcoin price would retrace all the way back down to $3.50.
Not surprisingly, Goldberg’s reasoning for this expectation is flawed. He is another financial “expert” who likes to compare Bitcoin to the Tulip craze of the 17th century. Economists have a habit of comparing apples and oranges more often than not, or bitcoins and tulips in this particular case. It is certainly true that the Tulip craze is an economic precedent that should never be repeated again. When that market finally came to its senses, the value of tulips crashed by roughly 99% in short order.
Ken Goldberg feels the same will happen to Bitcoin sooner or later. In his opinion, one could be “wishing they’d sold this $3,500 zone, as Bitcoin breaks under $35, with growing potential for US$3.50.” That is a pretty strong sentiment regarding the world’s leading cryptocurrency and one of the best-performing assets the financial sector has seen in the past handful of years. Anything can happen in the financial sector, but expecting a massive Bitcoin price retrace to 1/100th of its current value is a bit of a stretch.
Although Goldberg’s article on the Bitcoin price fundamentals may make sense to the untrained eye, it is obvious his “harbinger of exhaustions” is nothing but a mirage. Granted, there was a decline in trading volume as soon as the price surpassed $2,900, but that was hardly a guarantee of a massive Bitcoin price drop in the coming days or weeks. Even if that drop were to happen, there is no reason to believe Ken Goldberg would have been correct in his analysis.
Goldberg predicts Bitcoin may very well spike to $3,800 in the next few days. That seems to be the general consensus among Bitcoin trading experts as well, even though there will be significant resistance across the markets. Goldberg also ventures that issues affecting the Bitcoin technology might cause a future drop. Blockchain technology no doubt has scalability issues, and moving Bitcoin off exchange platforms can be challenging at times as well. However, these problems have existed for some time now and are being addressed. SegWit and the Lightning Network will address most scaling issues, whereas solving the exchange problem can only be done through decentralized trading platforms.
For Ken Goldberg, Bitcoin has “dwarf[ed] the Tulip Bulb lunacy.” Coming from someone who firmly believes traditional finance still has a fighting chance at a bright future, these statements can easily be ignored by people who see the bigger picture. Bitcoin has been fighting an uphill battle for several years now and has come out stronger every quarter. This is not in the same league as a Tulip Mania bubble, as there has never been anything like Bitcoin throughout history. At this rate, Ken Goldberg is well positioned to become the next Professor Bitcorn.
A new Dr Bitcoin is born? It would be less hilarious is he would have predicted $3,50. Of course, the time frame stated is very specific: 'in the near future'.
Unless he can point out a glaring bug in cryptocurrencies or a digital equivalent of Bitcoin with all positives and without the negatives of Bitcoin, I see no reason to attach weight to his opinion. Sorry, but tulip mania arguments died in 2011 already.
The stock market on the other hand.....