Citibank Predicts Bitcoin Price Could Surpass $300,000 by End of 2021
Wall Street is becoming increasingly bullish on Bitcoin. This much was made clear just recently when an analyst at Citibank, Tom Fitzpatrick, signaled his belief that Bitcoin will hit $300,000 in this market cycle.
Alex Krüger, an economist closely tracking the cryptocurrency market, leaked the analyst's note to his Twitter feed.
In a note shared with Citibank's institutional clients, Fitzpatrick wrote that should Bitcoin follow the path it took in previous bull runs, it will peak at $318,315 around December 2021 or early 2022.
A chart Fitzpatrick shared indicated that on a technical analysis basis, the Bitcoin price is at a similar point now to where it was prior to the exponential rally that took place in 2017.
Of note, the $318,315 price target is even higher than that signaled by "PlanB," a pseudonymous quantitative Bitcoin analyst known for popularizing the Stock to Flow model. His model suggests that by the end of December 2021, bitcoin should trade at $100,000 at minimum.
Fitzpatrick noted that the Bitcoin bull case stretches beyond its chart and technicals.
The senior Citibank analyst explained that Bitcoin will benefit from fiscal and monetary stimulus:
The change in monetary policy and simultaneous opening up in fiscal policy is (despite protestations to the contrary) Modern Monetary Theory in all but name and a clear intention of debasing FIAT currency.
As seen with previous crises, monetary stimulus benefited gold. But as Fitzpatrick added, "Bitcoin is the new gold," referencing its limited supply in a world where inflation is the norm.
"Bitcoin moves across borders easily and ownership is opaque. That last point is, I believe very relevant. The huge Fiscal deterioration of today has a cost in the future, either directly or indirectly. Directly it is that at some point the 'bills have to be paid', which means [...] the money needs to be found."
Fitzpatrick added that the effect of stimulus, which will only be compounded by the ongoing push by central banks to launch central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), will be "positive for Bitcoin." Namely, CBDCs will allow financial institutions to automatically distribute stimulus.
Far From the Only Institutional Bull
The research note comes shortly after JP Morgan admitted that Bitcoin is becoming a viable contender to gold in terms of its ability to hedge against inflation risks.
In its own research note, JP Morgan analysts explained that with the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust seeing record inflows as capital flows into gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) taper off, it may be that Bitcoin is being seen as an "alternative to gold."
There is also an increasing number of prominent fund managers that are bullish on Bitcoin.
Asset managers Stanley Druckenmiller revealed he owns bitcoin in an CNBC interview last week. As the BTC Times reported, Druckenmiller said that Bitcoin will "work even better" than gold if the "gold bet works."
Bill Miller, another asset manager, recently made a similar comment to CNBC.
Most recently, Anthony Scaramucci, a former White House official and Goldman Sachs vice president, revealed his $3.6 billion fund may invest in Bitcoin. No formal announcements have been made just yet, though Scaramucci has begun to discuss the cryptocurrency with a bullish tone on Twitter.