It's the start of a brand new year, and Bitcoin is already gathering key predictions for 2022. President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador shared his own predictions that not only will Bitcoin hit $100,000 in the new year, but at least two other countries will see Bitcoin become legal tender introduce, as El Salvador did just last year.
These New Year predictions follow year-end optimism shown by Ark Invest Management’s Cathie Wood and crypto exchange Kraken CEO Jesse Powell, with price predictions of $500,000 and $100,000, respectively, set to close in 2021. A shift in the market is evident as gold holdings in global central banks' foreign exchange reserves are growing significantly while US dollar holdings have fallen sharply.
The lasting influence of 2008
A central bank switch to gold reflects global concerns about the so-called dollar-based currency regime, particularly in emerging markets. Beginning with the 2008 market crash and after the financial crisis, both central banks and public institutions began to increase gold holdings. The crash caused an outflow of funds from US Treasury securities, which subsequently led to the declining value of dollar-denominated assets. According to market analyst Itsuo Toyoshima, confidence in dollar assets plummeted.
A hedge against inflation with a growing following
Inflation in the United States has hit 6.8%, the highest in 40 years, and it appears that anti-crypto investors previously decided to get busy. Thomas Peterffy, founder of Interactive Brokers Group Inc. and valued at around $25 billion, claims that 2-3% of your portfolio of crypto assets is the way to go just in case fiat "goes to hell" .
Peterffy's company also began offering customers the ability to trade a variety of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash. The transition comes as a result of increased customer requests for such an option as the company looks to add up to 10 more cryptocurrencies to this list in January 2022.
Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, also chimed in: "Cash, which most investors think is the safest investment, is in my opinion the worst investment". Dalio sees crypto investing for its potential as alternative money, saying "cash is trash" amid global developments where inflation is eroding purchasing power.
Peterffy and Dalio aren't the only billionaires scaling their crypto holdings. Hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones claimed it was a hedge against inflation and also bought Bitcoin in 2021.
The Rise of Bitcoin City
Bitcoin's move into mainstream acceptance is also aided by its merging with culture. The iconic Staples Centre, home of the Los Angeles Lakers and the late Kobe Bryant and a beacon of LA and sports culture, will be known as the Crypto.com Arena for the next 20 years after the Singapore cryptocurrency exchange signed a deal with AEG, owner and operator of the arena, has signed.
Additionally, El Salvador became the first country to adopt bitcoin as legal tender in 2021 under Bukele's presidency to counter rising inflation. El Salvador is now planning to start building a bitcoin city in addition to issuing volcanic bonds, both of which are planned for this year.
As investors steadily move away from the dollar and into crypto, bolstering its reliability as a hedge against inflation, their actions are also shedding light on the current sentiment and status of the US dollar.