A line-up of analysts had predicted that Bitcoin would hit $50,000 by the end of this year, but that was back in the first quarter, after Bitcoin dropped from $20,000 to $6,000 and then recovered to $11,000.

It’s spur this Monday saw it oscillate either above or below $6,500 and consolidate there, putting bears and bulls on the fence.

But the bullish of the bulls are not backing down, and though it’s been a while since anyone big has called $50,000, there’s still a stubborn optimism pervading this space.

Speaking to Market Watch, Mati Greenspan, senior market analyst at eToro, said Bitcoin’s flatline pattern “could easily remain for another few months and that wouldn’t be a bad thing, however, there are signs of excitement boiling underneath the cool price action exterior”.

Greenspan is eyeing the rising number of transactions per second, noting that “this is a classic indication that we’re nearing the end of a flat cycle”.

Earlier members of the “Fifty-Thousand-Dollar Club” have now been tamed.

One of them, Morgan Creek Digital partner Anthony Pompliano, conceded in August that BTC could drop to $3,000 first before hitting $10,000, and “if this is true, that means we still have ~50 percent price decrease to go. Things may get really, really ugly if this happens”.

Diehard crypto bull Mike Novogratz understands what that “excitement boiling underneath” might be. He’s eyeing a flood of institutional money into cryptos in the first and second quarters of next year, putting upward pressure on valuations.

Novogratz, a Wall Street veteran and the founder of Galaxy Digital, told Bloomberg this week that while BTC isn’t likely to break $10,000 this year, next year could be an entirely different animal. Related: How Do Your Savings Stack Up To The Top 1 Percent?

He’s putting his money where his mouth is, too.

Earlier this week, Fidelity Investments announced its creation of a stand-alone company called Fidelity Digital Assets that will offer custody services to institutional investors, as well as a crypto platform and advising. In other words, Fidelity plans to be the one to bring this all to the institutional level.

Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital is one of Fidelity’s institutional clients.

“We’ve been saying for a long time that one of the things that will get institutional investors to get involved in cryptos is custody solutions and they’re [Fidelity] coming out with a world-class custody solution that’s aimed at institutions,” Novogratz told Bloomberg on 15 October.

“What’s unique about crypto is that they’re bearer instruments. If I take your Bitcoin, it’s gone. If I take your Ethereum, it’s gone. If you get money stolen from JPMorgan, they know exactly how much was there and so they still owe you that money.”

Earlier this month, Fundstrat’s Tom Lee—also a former member of the “Fifty-Thousand Dollar Club”—said Wall Street’s major institutions were calling the bottom for Bitcoin.

And then there’s Scott Nations, CIO of NationsShares, who shorted Bitcoin live on CNBC on September 26, when it was at $6,370 (presently, it’s at $6,428). His reasoning? “I want to be a seller of the October contract. The Cboe Bitcoin futures, that is a single Bitcoin in a futures contract. My targeted downside if $5,950 and my stop to the upside is $6,600. Why do I want to short? Because it is Bitcoin. It has no fundamental value. We’re in an unravelling of this colossal bubble and the only thing going for it is hope, and hope is a horrible strategy”.

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And there is quite a lot going on in the cryptosphere this week that both bulls and bears will be watching closely, in addition to Fidelity’s big news.

Glassdoor has come out with new analysis indicating that the crypto fad is here to stay—if the tight jobs market is anything to go by. The analysis said that crypto job opportunities are at record levels despite all the skepticism surrounding the digital currency sphere, and despite the lackluster prices. Glassdoor noted 1,775 blockchain-related job openings in the U.S. as of August, alongside a 300-percent increase year-over-year, Market Watch reported.

Back to the skeptical side of this polarized playing field, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) also came out with a tough warning about the “rapid growth” of crypto assets, which could create “new vulnerabilities in the international financial system” because global banks haven’t had time to adjust.

By Michael Kern for Safehaven.com

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