Bitcoin bubble will crash after price hits $60k in 2018 – Saxo Bank’s outrageous prediction for year ahead

With talk of bitcoin being a bubble, but an astonishing rise in price that appears to show no signs of abating, could the cryptocurrency be set for even more eye-watering increases?

Saxo Bank certainly thinks so in its annual list of “outrageous” predictions for 2018, eyeing it hitting $60,000 – before it crashes, that is.

Read more: Up, up and away: Bitcoin sails past $15,000

The forecast is aimed at provoking conversation and reaching toward the furthest outlier scenarios which might bring shock and surprise in the year ahead.

The $60,000 price, spurred by futures contracts and more traditional investors piling in, would see its market value rocketing past one trillion, and many a bitcoin billionaire created. But the Danish investment bank foresees that being followed by a crash back down to earth in 2019 to $1,000, spurred by China and Russia sidelining it for their own cryptocurrencies.

Read more: The bitcoin bubble is a top concern for UK institutional investors

“Before long, however, the Bitcoin phenomenon finds the rug torn out from under it as Russia and China move deftly to sideline and even prohibit non-sanctioned cryptocurrencies domestically. After its spectacular peak in 2018, Bitcoin crashes and limps into 2019 close to its fundamental ‘production cost’ of $1,000.” the bank said.

While the predictions are a long shot – and certainly not market outlook, the bank assures – they might not be quite as outrageous as they first appear – when it comes to bitcoin, at least.

Last year, the bank predicted bitcoin in 2017 would “triple in value, from the current $700 level to $2,100”.