JPMorgan Predicts $146K for Bitcoin

In a new report focussing on the outlook for Alternative Investments like Digital Assets, the Global Investment Bank JPMorgan has gone bullish with its price prediction for Bitcoin, doubling down on its previous assessment.

Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, chief analyst and the Managing Director at J.P. Morgan has predicted the price of Bitcoin to reach $146,000 in the long term and a moderate short-term target of $73,000 for 2022.

However, the report added that for the current prediction to come true bitcoin’s volatility would have to drop significantly so that conservative investors feel confident to add more crypto to their portfolio. Nonetheless, the JPMorgan analyst noted that bitcoin’s volatility is falling and a target of $73,000 for 2022 is reasonable.

“There is little doubt that cryptocurrencies and digital assets more broadly are an emerging asset class and thus on a multi-year structural uptrend,” he added. Speaking of the current entry point, the report mentions that bitcoin appears to be in overbought territory and hence unattractive for a short-term investment horizon of 12 months.

As of November 8, cryptocurrency prices have mostly been in the green over the past week with bitcoin mildly flirting around the $65,000 mark (approx. ₹48 Lakhs) suggesting another imminent all-time high (ATH). Last month, bitcoin reversed nearly 4 months of its downward trend to touch an ATH of nearly $66,000 after Futures-based Bitcoin ETF got listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

This isn’t the first time JPMorgan has come out with such bold predictions. Back in January, the bank cited that bitcoin competes with gold as a better inflation hedge. ‘The perception of bitcoin as a better inflation hedge than gold is the main reason for the current upswing,’ explained JPMorgan later in September.

Ethereum Better Bet Than Bitcoin

On a side note, the report from JPMorgan suggested that crypto investors are better off holding ethereum than bitcoin. The ethereum blockchain has found powerful use cases in decentralized finance (Defi) and Non-fungible Tokens (NFT) which makes it a better bet, noted the report.

Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, the author of the report, further added that ‘the greater focus by investors on environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing has shifted attention away from the energy-intensive bitcoin blockchain to the ethereum blockchain.’

Meanwhile, Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency, touched an all-time high on November 8th while still steadily moving upwards to breach the $5k price mark for the first time.