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From $250,000 to $10,000 price calls: How market watchers got it wrong with bitcoin in 2022

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The crypto market has been battered this year, with more than $2 trillion wiped off its value since its peak in Nov. 2021. Cryptocurrencies have been under pressure after the collapse of major exchange FTX.
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2022 marked the start of a new "crypto winter," with high-profile companies collapsing across the board and prices of digital currencies crashing spectacularly. The events of the year took many investors by surprise and made the task of predicting bitcoin's price that much harder.

The crypto market was awash with pundits making feverish calls about where bitcoin was heading next. They were often positive, though a few correctly forecast the cryptocurrency sinking below $20,000 a coin.

But many market watchers were caught off guard in what has been a tumultuous year for crypto, with high-profile company and project failures sending shock waves across the industry.

It began in May with the collapse of terraUSD, or UST, an algorithmic stablecoin that was supposed to be pegged one-to-one with the U.S. dollar. Its failure brought down terraUSD's sister token luna and hit companies with exposure to both cryptocurrencies.

Three Arrows Capital, a hedge fund with bullish views on crypto, plunged into liquidation and filed for bankruptcy because of its exposure to terraUSD.

Then came the November collapse of FTX, one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges which was run by Sam Bankman-Fried, an executive who was often in the spotlight. The fallout from FTX continues to ripple across the cryptocurrency industry.

On top of crypto-specific failures, investors have also had to contend with rising interest rates, which have put pressure on risk assets, including stocks and crypto.

Bitcoin has sunk around 75% since reaching its all-time high of nearly $69,000 in November 2021 and more than $2 trillion has been wiped off the value of the entire cryptocurrency market. On Friday, bitcoin was trading at just under $17,000.

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CNBC reached out to the people behind some of the boldest price calls on bitcoin in 2022, asking them how they got it wrong and whether the year's events have changed their outlook for the world's largest digital currency. 

Tim Draper: $250,000 

Nexo: $100,000 

In April, Antoni Trenchev, the CEO of crypto lender Nexo, told CNBC he thought the world's biggest cryptocurrency could surge above $100,000 "within 12 months." Though he still has four months to go, Trenchev acknowledges it is improbable that bitcoin will rally that high anytime soon. 

Bitcoin "was on a very positive path" with institutional adoption growing, Trenchev says, but "a few major forces interfered," including an accumulation of leverage, borrowing without collateral or against low-quality collateral, and fraudulent activity. 

"I am pleasantly surprised by the stability of crypto prices, but I do not think we are out of the woods yet and that the second and third-order effects are still to play out, so I am somewhat skeptical as to a V-shape recovery," Trenchev said. 

The entrepreneur says he's also done making bitcoin price predictions. "My advice to everyone, however, remains unchanged," he added. "Get a single digit percentage point of your investable assets in bitcoin and do not look at it for 5-10 years. Thank me later." 

Guido Buehler: $75,000 

Paolo Ardoino: $50,000 

Paolo Ardoino, chief technology officer of Bitfinex and Tether, told CNBC in April that he expected bitcoin to fall sharply below $40,000 but end the year "well above" $50,000.

"I'm a bullish person on bitcoin … I see so much happening in this industry and so many countries interested in bitcoin adoption that I'm really positive," he said at the time.

Bitfinex CTO expects bitcoin to be 'well above $50,000' by end of year
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Bitfinex CTO expects bitcoin to be 'well above $50,000' by end of year
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On the day of the interview, bitcoin was trading above $41,000. The first part of Ardoino's call was correct — bitcoin did fall well below $40,000. But it never recovered.

In a follow-up email this month, Ardoino said he believes in bitcoin's resilience and the blockchain technology underlying it.

"As mentioned, predictions are hard to make. No one could have predicted or foreseen the number of companies, well regarded by the global community, failing in such a spectacular fashion," he told CNBC.

"Some legitimate concerns and questions remain around the future of crypto. It might be a volatile industry, but the technologies developed behind it are incredible."

Deutsche Bank: $28,000 

Marion Laboure, one of the authors of Deutsche Bank's initial report on crypto in June, said the bank now expects bitcoin to end the year around $21,000.

"High inflation, monetary tightening, and slow economic growth have likely put additional downward pressure on the crypto ecosystem," Laboure told CNBC, adding that more traditional assets such as bonds may begin to look more attractive to investors than bitcoin.

Laboure also said high-profile collapses continue to hit sentiment.

"Every time a major player in the crypto industry fails, the ecosystem suffers a confidence crisis," she said.

"In addition to the lack of regulation, crypto's biggest hurdles are transparency, conflicts of interest, liquidity, and the lack of reliable available data. The FTX collapse is a reminder that these problems continue to be unresolved."

JPMorgan: $13,000 

Absolute Strategy Research: $13,000 

Mark Mobius: $20,000 then $10,000

Carol Alexander: $10,000  

Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/23/bitcoin-price-calls-in-2022-how-the-market-got-it-wrong.html


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