Bitcoin price LIVE: $6k BTC to hit '$50,000' as believers push back at 'crypto funeral

Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of all things cryptocurrency, including price, regulation, innovation and financial crime.

Bitcoin is currently priced at $6,307 with Ethereum down at $449 and Ripple at $0.45.

After last week's drop to $5k, and talk of a forthcoming crypto 'funeral' as the leading coin heads towards a new bottom, this week begins on more of a positive now with BitMEX Co-founder Arthur Hayes telling CNBC that bitcoin will spike before the end of the year.

On BTC's lowest-ebb he said: "We could definitely find a bottom in the $3,000 to $5,000 range."

However with regulation forthcoming, he said: "We’re one positive regulatory decision away... to climbing through $20,000 and even to $50,000 by the end of the year."

Mr Hayes is just one of a number of the crypto community who remain positive. Responding to a discussion on a bitcoin 'funeral' after having lost 70 percent of its value since in $19,000 high in late December.

BTC is constantly under attack'

Jacob Piotrowski, CEO and Founder at Give Bytes told Express.co.uk that it's too soon to talk of a cryto 'funeral'.

He said: "The price of bitcoin peaked in December at nearly $20K and that was probably too much so the correction was inevitable.

"We have to bear in mind that BTC is constantly under attack - we've witnessed couple of exchanges being attacked and some governments and central banks issuing statements that were supposed to discourage people from bitcoin.

"It doesn't seem to have worked as the cryptocurrency market keeps on growing despite volatile prices and approaches the $250 billion cap."

Mr Piotrowski wants to see the better development of crypto infrastructure - "ATMs, payment gateways for ecommerce, mobile wallets, POS terminals accepting crypto as well as regulations."