Erik Voorhees

ShapeShift CEO Erik Voorhees expects Bitcoin to reach $40,000 by the summer, while Tim Draper has stood by his $250,000 prediction for the second year running.

There is little agreement among Bitcoin’s commentators over the last few weeks, with crypto execs, research analysts and billionaire investors offering wildly different takes on what's in store for Bitcoin for the year ahead. 

One crypto exchange founder expects Bitcoin (BTC) to spike to $40,000 by the summer, while a Bitcoin billionaire has renewed his bullish $250,000 BTC price prediction for the year.

Erik Voorhees — $40,000 by the “summer”

Erik Voorhees, founder and CEO of cryptocurrency exchange ShapeShift, was optimistic about a potential recovery of Bitcoin’s price during an interview with Bankless on Jan. 2, stating he “wouldn’t be surprised” if Bitcoin (BTC) hit “like $40K” by the “summer.”

Voorhees noted that if his prediction were to come true that would be “2.5X” from its current price of $16,666, which he said is a “great return.”

The crypto executive couldn’t pinpoint the timing of the next bull run, only saying it would come sometime within the next “six months to three years.”

He shut down the idea that it could take as much as “10 years,” however, arguing that if that happened it would mean the whole “thing [...] probably failed.”

Looking ahead, Voorhees said that the macro environment, interest rates and the tightening of monetary conditions are big factors in how the crypto market will play out this year.

He also acknowledged that the reputation of crypto from outsiders is “just trash” but those commentators will also be the ones to be “blindsided” when the next rally happens.

Voorhees said that whether we are in a bull or bear market, we are “in the middle of a revolution right now.”

Tim Draper — $250,000 by April 2024

Meanwhile, Bitcoin billionaire investor Tim Draper has continued to knuckle down on his $250,000 Bitcoin prediction via his most recent Twitter post on Jan. 1, showing he even has it printed on a T-shirt.

See t-shirt. $250k by 2022. My prediction was off by a bit. Hasn’t made it there…yet. Certainly before the halvening. #truebelievers #bitcoin #worldoftrust #freedom #hodl pic.twitter.com/jMLi8rraj8

— Tim Draper (@TimDraper) December 31, 2022

Draper first made the bold $250,000 Bitcoin price prediction during a speech at his own Draper University in San Mateo in April 2018.

At the time, he said he was looking into what he described as a “crystal ball,” saying he was “thinking” of $250,000 for a Bitcoin by 2022.

Draped said people would perceive those that believe in the prediction as “crazy,” but reassured his audience it would happen and be “awesome.”

In his most recent tweet, Draper conceded that his “$250K by 2022” prediction was “off by a bit” but said he believes it “certainly” will happen before the Bitcoin halving, which is set for April 2024 according to Coinmarketcap.

His bullish prediction was however met with varied comments on Twitter, with one user tweeting that they had “lost interest” in the price of Bitcoin since Celsius stole the “one Bitcoin” they had, another tweeted “you have high hopes,” while another predicted that it is “unlikely” to even go “above $30K in 2023.”

Mike McGlone — $100,000 by 2025

Draper’s comments could be seen as particularly bullish even among Bitcoin supporters.

In September, Bloomberg Intelligence Senior Commodity Strategist Mike McGlone — who has been optimistic about the future of Bitcoin in the past — tapped the crypto to only reach $100,000 by 2025.

He's made that prediction once before, during an interview in October 2020 where he said Bitcoin is “on track” to hit “$100,000 by 2025.” A year later, he stood by that prediction in an interview with Kitco News, saying it’s only a “matter of time” to get to “$100,000.”

He saidthe reason for this is that supply is still “going down,” while adoption and demand are “still increasing.”

Standard Chartered — $5,000 in 2023

In December, United Kingdom-based banking firm Standard Chartered predicted Bitcoin could drop to as low as $5,000 in 2023 as one of the possible "financial-market surprises" of the year.

According to a  Dec. 5 report from CNBC, rising yields and a plunge in tech stocks could lead to an acceleration of a Bitcoin sell-off, causing further bankruptcies and collapses in crypto and a collapse in investor confidence in digital assets.

However, the author of the investor note, Eric Robertsen — the firm's global head of research — noted that this was an extreme prediction that fell outside its own baseline views and outside of market consensus.

Related: Bitcoin Jack: "I try to think more about when than where" for price

While some crypto industry figures have been confident enough to share their Bitcoin forecasts for the years ahead, others have been more reserved in sharing their thoughts on the subject.

Co-founder and managing partner of digital asset management platform Nexo, Antoni Trenchev, recently explained to Cointelegraph that there are “many factors” that can influence the price of Bitcoin.

Alex McCurry, CEO and co-founder of blockchain solution provider Solidify.io, told Cointelegraph on Jan. 3 that “Bitcoin is a completely unpredictable asset.”

The uthor of the best-selling book Rich Dad, Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki, hasn't made any price predictions in recent months either, despite frequently posting about Bitcoin on his Twitter page. 

In December, Kiyosaki said he was investing in Bitcoin and is "very excited" about it due to it being classified as a commodity much like gold, silver and oil, unlike other crypto tokens which he said have been classified as securities.

Q: Are you investing in Bitcoin?
A: Yes I am. I am very excited about Bitcoin. Why? Because Bitcoin is classified as a commodity much like gold, silver, and oil. Most crypto tokens are classifed as a security and SEC regulations will crush most of them. I am buying more BC

— Robert Kiyosaki (@theRealKiyosaki) December 31, 2022