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With Russia's invasion of Ukraine and inflation at decade-highs dominating the markets, how do Bitcoin, Ethereum, altcoins, and DeFi stack up? Can they still be banned, and what are some real long-term price targets?
In Kitco's power panel, Shark Tank star Kevin O'Leary said that banning Bitcoin and other cryptos was no longer an existential threat.
"There's no chance that we're going to be banning Bitcoin or anything else that holds economic promise in terms of developing new technologies for financial services and payment systems," O'Leary told Kitco's Editor-in-Chief Michelle Makori. "That's always been the hallmark of American entrepreneurship. We're not going to ban that."
On the other side of the debate was hedge fund manager Roy Niederhoffer, founder of R. G. Niederhoffer Capital Management. And he is not ruling out a ban.
Niederhoffer reminded investors that there was a time when even gold was banned in the U.S. "There's a chance that Bitcoin could be banned. The private ownership of gold was banned in many countries, including the United States," Niederhoffer said. "However, were that to happen, it would be such an environment of chaos and hyperinflation that Bitcoin would be worth even more money at that point. If they're going to ban it, it's going to be the time when you absolutely want to load up on Bitcoin."
Both panelists agreed that regulation of the crypto space was inevitable, but would lead to a massive rally.
O'Leary explained: "[Once] we get this regulation in place, the institutions [will be] pouring trillions of dollars. Those that have been speculators will benefit from the fact that these will get indexed and that will be a great upside."
Niederhoffer's long-term price target for Bitcoin includes a scenario where the cryptocurrency could hit $500 million based on inflation and adoption rates.
"In 20 years, you [could] have bitcoin price 30 times what it is now and in 30 [years] 85 times what it is right now. We are talking about a Bitcoin price of $3.8 million," he said. "We can go beyond that. If inflation is at 15% for 30 years and the Bitcoin market cap rivals that of the euro, we are talking about a Bitcoin price of $56 million. And if Bitcoin becomes the world reserve currency and we have 20% inflation, Bitcoin price is going to be almost $500 million."
O'Leary and Niederhoffer also shared investment tips and broke down their crypto market outlooks. Watch the full video for more insights!
By Kitco News
For Kitco News
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