"Bitcoin price will fall below $13,700 to end the year at $25,000"

Cryptowinter is far from coming to an end and Bitcoin´s price (BTC) has a long way to go from reaching a floor in its depreciation from the highs reached in November last year, at $69,000. This is one of the conclusions drawn from Finder's latest survey. The panel of 53 experts consulted by the statistics firm also believes the digital currency will bottom out at $13,676 on average in 2022 before ending the year at $25,473.

The downside target of many analysts consulted by 'Bolsamania' for BTC is located around $13,000. However, the most bearish ones do not rule out that it could depreciate to $10,000. Among the experts consulted by Finder, Martin Froehler, CEO of Morpher, believes the cryptocurrency will sink to $12,000 before recovering to $40,000 by the end of the year.

"It is reasonable to expect more large projects to fail in the coming months. Retail confidence is at historic lows due to economic uncertainty and global inflation. Highly leveraged miners, who just had to digest the exodus from China, will capitulate and further increase downward pressure. We will see even lower Bitcoin prices," he commented.

Bitcoin´s downturn mirrors the broader market, with 77% of panelists stating we are officially in a 'cryptowinter'. According to 70% of those surveyed by Finder, the biggest driver behind the cryptocurrency downturn is global interest rate hikes. This is followed by the collapse of Terra LUNA (68%), balance sheet tightening by central banks (47%) and rising inflation (40%).

However, how long the cryptowinter will last is up for debate. Only 29% believe the market will recover this year, while 46% think it will last until 2023 and 24% argue it will last until 2024 or even longer.

Paul Levy, senior lecturer at the University of Brighton, believes the cryptowinter will last until the second half of 2023 and thinks the cryptocurrency will end 2022 at $15,000. "It is likely that Bitcoin will rally in 2023, which may actually lead to inflated expectations and further instability. Much of this, of course, depends on world events such as the war in Ukraine and its own continued impact on global confidence," he stated.

Vetle Lunde, an analyst at Arcane Research, places the bottom for Bitcoin at $13,000 and the level at which it will end the year at $20,000 greenbacks. "A host of negative forces have crushed Bitcoin...further tightening and dismantling of bad cryptocurrencies will create sobering times ahead, and investors should tighten their belts for further difficulties," he commented.

The analyst firm's panel's average price predictions for Bitcoin declined sharply this year. In April, the panel expected Bitcoin to be worth $65,185 by the end of the year, meaning the average prediction dropped by 61% in just a few months.

While still significant, price predictions for 2025 and 2030 declined less dramatically but are still well above Bitcoin's all-time high of nearly $70,000.

In April this year, a similar survey thought Bitcoin would be worth $179,280 in 2025 and $420,240 in 2030. As of today they expect the digital currency to be worth $106,757 in 2025 and $314,314,314 at the start of the next decade, down 40% and 25%, respectively.

With long-term bullish price forecasts, 50% of the Finder panel now believe it is time to buy BTC (up from 67% in April) with 40% holding that it is time to hold and 10% sell.

RISK ASSET, INVESTMENT OR SOMETHING ELSE?

However, the panel is split on Bitcoin's role. 42% classify Bitcoin as a risk asset and another 42% as a store of value, with the remaining 15% saying they classify it as neither.

Ben Ritchie, CEO of Digital Capital Management, believes Bitcoin is a store of value and will be worth $200,000 in 2025 and $400,000 by 2030. He commented that Bitcoin can be used as a hedge against inflation, but on a much longer time scale than gold or other asset classes.

Charles Morris, chief investment officer at ByteTree, thinks Bitcoin is a risk asset, but still projects it will be worth $250,000 by 2030. "Bitcoin is almost a pure risk asset, virtually the opposite of gold which is risk-free over the long term."

Some panelists, such as University of Sussex finance professor Carol Alexander, believe Bitcoin will eventually lose value. "Unlike many other established cryptoassets, Bitcoin is purely speculative. It has no utility value for the development of Web 3.0," she stated.