Saxo Bank wouldn't be surprised if the bitcoin price saw big gains next year.
The Danish investment bank recently published its annual "Outrageous Predictions for 2017", a collection of speculations that it stressed represents more of a fringe outlook than anything official. At the same time, the bank said that these "outlier" predictions represent its attempt to get those in the financial industry to think about more extreme possibilities for the year ahead.
In addition to off-the-cuff calls that the UK won't actually leave the European Union and that Italian equity prices will soar on the back of an EU-led bailout, Saxo Bank said that, under the right conditions, the price of bitcoin could skyrocket to more than $2,100.
Chief among its reasons was the potential for the incoming Trump administration to cause turbulence in the US economy (a reason given by bitcoin traders for recent price momentum).
Saxo Bank explained:
"If the banking system as well as sovereigns such as Russia and China move to accept bitcoin as a partial alternative to the USD and the traditional banking and payment system, then we could see bitcoin easily triple over the next year going from the current $700 level to +$2,100 as the block-chains decentralised system, an inability to dilute the finite supply of bitcoins as well as low to no transaction costs gains more traction and acceptance globally."
Though the prediction doesn’t represent an official position, it's not the first bullish indication the bank has made.
In 2014, then-current CEO Lars Seier Christensen discussed his "personal" interest in bitcoin with CoinDesk, describing it as an opportunity for investors.
At the time, he had also hinted at early testing of the tech within the bank as well, though later Christensen would go on to argue that liquidity problems at the time were keeping banks on the sidelines.
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