April 29, 2016- In This Issue:

 

  
New Bitcoin Price Prediction by Needham Puts Value at $655
Seeing growing use over the next several years, a new Needham & Co. Bitcoin price prediction estimates the digital currency's present value at $655.

That's not far from the present value of $604 that fellow investment firm Wedbush Securities came up with in a similar Bitcoin price prediction analysis last fall.

bitcoin price predictionBoth are substantially higher (45% and 57%) than the Bitcoin price today of about $417.

Notoriously volatile, the Bitcoin price rocketed 8,500% in 2013, then fell 87%. And in the past year, the price of Bitcoin is up 67%.

But the digital currency refuses to go away.

That two respected Wall Street firms are devoting resources to Bitcoin price analysis speaks to how far the cryptocurrency has come in just a few short years. Once derided as a tool for criminals and anarchists, Bitcoin is now taken very seriously by the financial community.

That's because the world's big banks and financial institutions realize that Bitcoin and the technology that underpins it, the blockchain, have the potential to completely disrupt their businesses. And so more and more, they've chosen to study and embrace it.

Why Wall Street Is Making Bitcoin Price Predictions

The Needham Bitcoin price prediction, released this week, actually was undertaken to initiate the firm's coverage of the Bitcoin Investment Trust (OTCMKTS: GBTC). That was also the purpose for last November's Wedbush Bitcoin price prediction.

Open only to accredited investors and institutions, GBTC functions much like a gold exchange-traded-fund (ETF), but for Bitcoin. In other words, the Bitcoin Investment Trust is closely tied to the Bitcoin price.

New Cryptocurrency Ethereum Won't Kill Bitcoin - and Was Never Meant To
The rapid rise of a new cryptocurrency called Ethereum has fueled speculation that the incumbent Bitcoin now has a rival with the potential to sweep it aside.

That's not what's happening, but it's easy to see why some might believe it.

Ethereum only went live last August, but quickly stood out in the crowded world of hundreds of digital currencies, all based in whole or in part on the open source Bitcoin code.

Since the beginning of the year, the price of Ethereum has rocketed from about $1 to more than $11.50 - a rise of more than 1,000%.

Today, the total value of all existing digital "ether" - the name of the individual units on Ethereum - is about $900 million - second only to Bitcoin's $6.5 billion.

But it's not just the steep appreciation in value that has painted Ethereum as a possible Bitcoin rival.

Is Bitcoin Becoming More Stable Than Gold?
Needham & Co. LLC, a New York City-based investment firm, has begun covering the Bitcoin Investment Trust (BIT), giving it a "buy" rating and a $62.00 price target (PT). Needham estimates the present per-bitcoin value at $655.

BIT is sponsored by Grayscale Investments, which is owned by Digital Currency Group, which invests in the blockchain and digital currency ecosystem. BIT is a private, open-ended trust that invests only in bitcoin. Hence, the value is based primarily on the bitcoin price.

Needham, according to a 39-page report explaining its "buy" at $62 PT, believes the price of bitcoin stands to benefit substantially from rising demand for its two main use cases as an alternative payments channel and as a "digital gold." The growing demand is driven by market trends such as expanding ecommerce, globalization, and by the pervasiveness of enabling technology like mobile phones.