The price of Bitcoin may surge in 2016 due to the slower growth in the cryptocurrency’s supply, according to new predictions.

Daniel Masters, co-founder of Jersey-based Global Advisors’ multi-million dollar bitcoin hedge fund, said that the price of bitcoin could make it above $1,100 next year and then pick up speed to rise to $4,400 by the end of 2017.

According to Masters, this possible trend would be due to a number of factors, such as an increased acceptance of payments in bitcoin by big companies, and the authorities’ increased interest and investment in the blockchain technology. In addition, increased demand from China is also expected as the nation’s currency weakens and the economy slows.

In the last three months, the price of Bitcoin has almost doubled, putting it on track for its best quarter in two years. In November, the price of Bitcoin hit $500 for the first time since August in 2014, due to the Chinese demand for a pyramid scheme set up by a Russian fraudster.

"Today the worth of bitcoin is $1 per capita in the world (population)", Bobby Lee, the chief executive of one of the leading bitcoin exchanges in China, BTCC, said, referring to the value of all the bitcoins in circulation, around $6.5 billion.

"For such an innovative, decentralized digital asset, I say ‘boy, are we undervaluing it’. But it takes a while for people to realize that".

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