Cryptocurrency prices begin Friday in mixed fashion with bitcoin, the best-known digital currency, marginally lower.
In early trading, one bitcoin
BTCUSD, -1.21%
was fetching $3,822.22, down 0.5% since 5 p.m. Eastern Time on the Kraken crypto exchange. If the loss is maintained, the coin is on track to log its 10th consecutive session below the $4,000 mark.
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What are analysts saying
Despite prices hanging near multimonth lows, Nigel Green, founder and CEO of U.K. consulting firm deVere group, said the landscape for digital assets is set for an upswing in 2019, buoyed by growing interest from the institutional sector.
“The bearish sentiment of the last quarter of 2018 is now, I believe, behind us,” wrote Green. “We can expect the current upswing to continue, albeit with peaks and troughs as in any financial market. In 2019, the cryptocurrency market is set to radically evolve. We can expect considerable expansion of the sector largely due to inflows of institutional investors.”
Green predicts that the endowments of prestigious universities will become significant investors in cryptocurrencies in 2019.
Read: Nearly 4 in 5 individual investors are still bullish on bitcoin
What are altcoins and futures doing
Altcoins — the colloquial term for coins other than bitcoin — are off to mixed start Friday. Ether,
ETHUSD, -0.78%
the second-largest digital currency, had gained 2% to $150.78, Litecoin
LTCUSD, -0.96%
was up 0.4% to $31.53, XRP,
XRPUSD, -2.11%
had lost 0.9% to 35 cents, and Bitcoin Cash
BCHUSD, -4.22%
was down 2.5% at $157.30.
Bitcoin futures are trading lower on Friday. The Cboe Global Markets February contract
XBTG9, -1.27%
was down 0.5% at $3,725, and the CME Group February contract
BTCG9, -0.40%
was lower by 0.7% to $3,720.
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Source : MTV
