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Bitcoin could nearly double in price by years end, according to a panel of fintech leaders convened by financial comparison website Finder.

The panel of 13 in Finders Cryptocurrency report suggest Bitcoin could be worth as much as USD$8,589 by March 31 and USD$14,275 by the end of the year.Key findings:

Bitcoin value to increase 19% by March 31 and 98% by years end, according to fintech panellists82% believe the halvening will boost the price of BitcoinPanel positive on Bitcoin, Ethereum and Tezos / most negative on TRON, EOS, and Litecoin77% say stable coins, such as Facebooks Libra, threaten national monetary sovereignty82% of panellists, including founder of Draper Associates, Tim Draper, believe the halvening will boost the price of Bitcoin.It [Bitcoin] becomes more valuable as the usage and costs to make it go up, he said.

Fred Schebesta, Co-founder of Finder and HiveEx, believes Bitcoin will hit $22,000 by years end.

If we see a continued consistency and no prolonged downward manipulation, I forecast Bitcoin will almost triple by the end of 2020.

Managing Director of Digital Capital Management, Ben Richie, who had the highest end-of-year price prediction ($34,500), said geopolitical and economic uncertainty will boost Bitcoins value.

investors will look to some alternative assets to shield from these events, and cryptocurrencies is likely to be a benefactor, he said.

Overall the panel was net positive on just three cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin, Ethereum and Tezos. It was most negative on TRON, EOS and Litecoin.

University of Canberras Dr. John Hawkins was negative on all 11 cryptocurrencies.

None of these cryptocurrencies have made any substantial progress in becoming payments instruments and may face stronger rivals in 2020 such as Libra and then central bank cryptocurrencies, he said.

Despite speculation Facebooks Libra wont eventuate, 85% of panellists, including Dr. at the University of New South Wales, Elvira, Soji, think it will launch.

It will launch in a very limited way, and governments will look much more seriously into central bank digital cash, she said.

The report also reveals the majority of panellists (77%) believe stable coins, such as Facebooks Libra, threaten the monetary sovereignty of nations.

Ritchie noted that we are only now really starting to experiment with money, and the threat to nations will be a bi-product of their lack of adoption to change.

Technologist Joseph Raczynski went as far as to say there is a bit of an arms race to develop a widely held crypto that can be used around the world.

You can view the full report here

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Bitcoin 'to increase 98% in value by end of year' - Netimperative