Elon Muskâs concern that bitcoin (BTC) might be bad for the environment isnât enough to derail the cryptocurrencyâs potential for further price gains, said Bloomberg Intelligence commodity strategist Mike McGlone.
âElon Musk saying Tesla is suspending purchases using bitcoin doesnât shake our thesis that the crypto is in early price discovery days on its way to becoming the global digital reserve asset in a world of accelerating digitalization and electrification,â McGlone wrote Thursday in a new report.
The report follows a 13% drop in the price of bitcoin, the most in a single day in almost four months. The drop was prompted by Musk, Teslaâs CEO, saying late Wednesday the electric-car company was ending its bitcoin-for-cars offer made earlier in the year. That Feb. 8 announcement drove up bitcoinâs price so dramatically â by 19% â that it was lionized by some fans of the cryptocurrency as âElonâs candle,â in a reference to the resulting pattern on price charts.
Read more: Bloombergâs McGlone Warns of âPredominant Deflationary Forcesâ
Now, bitcoin analysts are scrambling to adjust their price forecasts and respond to concerns bitcoinâs energy needs contribute to fossil-fuel burning, making it a climate threat at a time when environmental, social and governance concerns are becoming more important to institutional investors.
McGlone is considered a hot hand in cryptocurrency markets because he accurately forecast bitcoinâs price rise to $50,000 last year, at a time when it was trading at just a fraction of that level.
What matters the most, according to McGlone, is the source of the Bitcoin networkâs energy.
âThe source of electricity is increasing from solar and wind, which are cost effective,â according to the report. âOn a global scale, electricity is going renewable.â
Muskâs remarks about the cryptoâs electricity consumption are âoddâ coming from an automaker whose product is âfed solely by electricity,â the analyst wrote.
McGlone wrote that bitcoin âshows comfort at the whole-number level around $50,000, which was our initial call on a 2021 target resistance value.â
âThe rule of money flowing to where itâs treated best looks like an enduring tailwind for bitcoin,â he wrote.
At press time, bitcoin was changing hands around $48,322, down about 10% over the prior 24 hours. The decline left the cryptocurrencyâs price up about 67% for the year to date.