Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of social news website Reddit (in 2005) and early stage venture capital firm Initialized Capital (in 2011), is quite bullish on Bitcoin (BTC), but he is even more excited about Ethereum (ETH). He is predicting that, by the end of the year, Bitcoin and Ethereum will reach $20,000 and $15,000 respectively, according to an interview with Fortune’s Term Sheet newsletter. As of press time, according to data from CryptoCompare, Bitcoin is trading at $9240 and Ethereum at $685.
In this interview, Ohanian shares his thoughts about the blockchain and cryptocurrency space. In particular, he feels strongly that blockchain technology can help to deliver a better internet, what he calls “Web 3.0”, within the next couple of years:
Last year, it was all about AI and machine learning, This year, it’s all about blockchain. Most of it is just hype and BS, just like how it was with AI and ML. Most of the really vital, protocol-level, basic infrastructure around software and blockchain will need to get built in the next year or two for us to really see the Web 3.0 we’re really hoping for.
With regards to financial regulations in United States, he is expecting the SEC to exercise a “light touch”:
Right now, it seems like we’re in a pretty low regulation environment in the United States. I would be surprised if there was anything other than a light touch. It’s important because there have been a lot of charlatans who have gotten into these initial coin offerings as a get-rich-quick scheme. It’s frustrating because it undermines what is a really innovative technology. These people should be punished full-stop.
As for his price prediction for Bitcoin, he jokingly says that Bitcoin “will go to the moon.” He believes that Bitcoin’s very high level of mindshare will help it to continue to be a store of value. However, he is more bullish on Ethereum because “people are actually building on it.” When pressed to give a ballpark figure for what he expects the prices of Bitcoin and Ethereum to be by the end of 2018, he says:
At the end of the year, Bitcoin will be at $20,000. And Ethereum will be at $15,000. Great, now people can call me out if I’m wrong.”
We have recently had various experts predict Bitcoin to reach $20,000 – $30,000 by the end of the year. For example, we had the $25,000 prediction from Thomas Lee, co-founder and head of research at Fundstrat Global Advisors, on 12 April 2018, and the $20,000 prediction from Dan Morehead, CEO of Pantera Capital, on 26 April 2018. However, this is the highest price estimate we have seen for Ethereum from any big name investor this year.
