Big Investors Will Make ‘All Hell Break Loose’ In Crypto In 2018, Says Abra CEO

Cryptocurrency investment app Abra’s CEO forecast that “all hell will break loose” in Bitcoin and altcoin markets this year in a fresh mainstream media interview March 28.

Speaking to Business Insider two weeks after the startup announced it had raised $40mln in new funding since October, CEO Bill Barhydt said western institutional money would begin to “dip its toes” into crypto assets in 2018.

In doing so, Barhydt continues a popular narrative that institutional investors ‘waiting’ for an opportune moment will transform Bitcoin and major altcoin price performance.

Bitcoin continued to sink towards fresh bi-weekly lows March 29, circling around $7600 according to Cointelegraph’s price tracker. Ethereum, which has lost 52% of its value in a month, is set to challenge $400 a coin.

“I talk to hedge funds, high net worth individuals, even commodity speculators. They look at the volatility in the crypto markets and they see it as a huge opportunity,” Barhydt nonetheless reports adopting a conspicuously bullish tone.

“Once that happens, all hell will break loose. Once the floodgates are opened, they're opened.”

Even cryptocurrency industry analysts have recently aired caution about short-term price prospects for Bitcoin.

Regular commentator Tone Vays had warned during recent highs that until resistance around $12,000 was cleared, prices would continue to post lacklustre performance - and could even drop lower than current levels.

For Barhydt, however, future potential takes prevalence over short-term volatility between $6000 and $12,000.

“There really is zero large-scale institutional money from the west in crypto right now. That is happening in Japan,” he continued.

“...We're getting closer and closer to real clarity in the West that it's OK putting half a percent of your assets into crypto.”