Hopeful about the recent surge in bitcoin price? Expectant about the entrance of Bakkt and the possibility of 2019 being the year of (real) institutional investment? Then don’t read this article. According to these experts, economists, finance professors, miners, and developers, Bitcoin is on its way out – and will soon be as redundant as Black and White TV. Here’s what they have to say.

No Investment Strategies Are Worse Than Cryptocurrencies

Robert R. Johnson is a Ph.D., CFA, CAIA, and Professor of Finance at Heider College of Business, Creighton University. He’s Chairman and CEO of Economic Index Associates, and co-author of The Tools and Techniques of Investment Planning, Investment Banking for Dummies, Strategic Value Investing, and Invest With the Fed. He’s decidedly bearish on crypto.

“Bitcoin prices will continue to tumble in 2019,” he says to CCN.com.

The high point is likely near the level bitcoin is trading today and I believe it will trade well under $1,000 during the year. Bitcoin is a purely speculative “asset” with no underlying value. The fools that currently own it are having a difficult time trying to find greater fools who will take it off their hands.

He goes on to say:

The simple truth is that there are virtually no investment strategies that are worse ideas than cryptocurrencies. “Investing” in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is pure, unadulterated speculation. I put investing in parentheses because this is not investing, it is speculating. Cryptocurrencies are the “Tulipmania” of the 21st century.

Bitcoin Is the Black and White TV

Ken Bodnar is a tokenization and blockchain influencer on LinkedIn. He’s part of the team of esteemed economist Dr. Richard Rahn and on a mission to evolve crypto from where it is to a new place with real asset backing, either virtual or real. Bodnar has consistently and publicly predicted on LinkedIn both this year and last that bitcoin would drop to $4,000 and lower.

“Its fall has been moderated by the trading of bitcoin futures on the CME and CBOE,” he explains to CCN.com, however that alone will not prevent its further fall.

I am predicting bitcoin to the $2,000 level in the near future. It will eventually drop to a price where it is too expensive to mine because of the energy costs… It was the thin edge of the wedge that ushered in a paradigm shift, like Black and White TV. It will be supplanted by something better that is infinitely more fungible.

Miners Jumping Ship Will Lower the Price Further

Josh Boram is the owner of AntminerProfitability.com and has been tracking mining stats for mining hardware. He’s not real rosy on the future of Bitcoin either. While he admits that it “has a lot of potential,” he believes that volatility will remain high and that:

The hardware mining aspect will also affect the price since profitability will significantly decrease, lowering the hype on it’s earning potential. This will have a negative effect on the price as miners get out of the game and sell their profits during mining uncertainty.

Crypto Is Worthless Unless It’s Used

When all said and done, according to Drew Farnsworth, Partner at Green Lane Design data center design and consulting, it all comes down to usage.

Essentially, unless people use cryptocurrency then its value will continue to drop.

“It depends on the uptake in payments and actual utility of crypto,” he says to CCN.com.

Crypto really is worthless unless it is used. Bitcoin’s main draw is the size of the network… Without effective payment processing, Bitcoin will drop under $1,000 before EOY 2019.

Featured image from Shutterstock.