The Bitcoin and cryptocurrency markets continue to shed billions as speculators in markets around the world exit en masse to cash. Some industry personalities expect markets to bounce hard as confusion calms. However, others think the worst is yet to come.

Kashif Raza, CEO of Indian cryptocurrency news platform Crypto Kanoon, says we should be expecting to see Bitcoin at sub-$3,000. He makes the case that governments will be forced to limit internet access or restrict it entirely. Naturally, this would have dramatic consequences for digital asset markets since they are almost exclusively traded online.

A Quick Bounce?

In the last seven days alone, Bitcoin has shed around $50 billion from its total market capitalization. Sudden fear gripping global markets seems to have extended to the cryptocurrency industry, and investors have ditched positions in favor of cash.

Some industry analysts believe that Bitcoin will bounce hard following this particularly dramatic selloff:

Others point to the increasingly radical economic policies being unveiled by central banks around the world to combat the worsening downturn. Banks have injected literally trillions of dollars into economies. Emergency rate cuts from the likes of the Federal Reserve and Bank of England look set to make saving less appealing. [The Guardian]

More recently, US banks no longer need to hold any reserves whatsoever going forward. Some have described this as the death of the American financial system. For those still sold on Bitcoin as a hedge against such radical policies, the cryptocurrency remains the only alternative to the perceived madness:

Bitcoin Below $3,000: Is the Bleed Out Only Just Starting?

Meanwhile, the CEO of India’s cryptocurrency regulatory news portal Crypto Kanoon has an altogether grimmer outlook for the short- to mid-term future. In the following tweet, Kashif Raza makes the case that that things are going to get a lot worse for Bitcoin investors before they get better.

Raza claims that the spread of the virus will force more governments to declare lock-downs. Already, large parts of the world are enforcing policies to reduce the movement of people in an effort to slow the disease down. [NBC News]

Raza believes that the panic already gripping markets will continue. For him, people will increasingly opt for cash that they can spend on essentials, over speculative assets like stocks or Bitcoin.

So far, the Crypto Kanoon CEO’s predictions seem reasonable enough. We’ve already seen plenty of selling for cash across all kinds of different markets.

However, he goes on to make the case that authorities will be forced to curtail internet use in an effort to control the circulating news narrative. This will, of course, lead to a massive lull in cryptocurrency trading, since almost all of it takes place online. In such a scenario, Raza sees Bitcoin at below $3,000. How far it will fall below that price, he doesn’t care to speculate.