Fundstrat’s Lee Admits Poor Prediction of Bitcoin Rally, Still Expects $25k Price by Year End

Co-founder and head of research at Fundstrat Global Advisors, Thomas Lee has admitted that his prediction of a Bitcoin rally after the Consensus conference was wrong. Lee has claimed that the crypto market still “faces significant internal resistance and hurdles within traditional financial institutions,” Bloomberg reports May 18

Having accurately predicted the growth of crypto markets after the US tax day in April, Tom Lee made another Bitcoin prediction on May 7, saying that the cryptocurrency will rally during and after the Consensus conference takes place in New York May 14-16. “We expect BTC and cryptocurrencies to behave similarly to prior years and rally during Consensus,” Fundstrat’s co-founder stated back in the beginning of the month.

In a report to his clients Friday, Tom Lee explained his forecast was based on such factors as the crypto community coming together in a “centralized place,” as well as the “growth in attendance.” These factors were expected to have a positive effect on cryptocurrency prices and “strengthen the crypto-community’s conviction.”

In his tweet May 18, Tom Lee confirmed the fact the crypto markets have instead lost up to 10 percent during Consensus, although the conference counted 8,700 participants, which is “more than a tripling of attendance in the prior year.”

CRYPTO: #Consensus2018 rally did not happen, very disappointing. What we needed was a trifecta of progress: (i) institutional custody/tools; (ii) buy-in by banks/investment managers; (iii) regulatory clarity (3 of 3 needed), but we got progress on (i) and (ii). Full text below pic.twitter.com/XcqNhgYgK7

— Thomas Lee (@fundstrat) May 18, 2018

Tom Lee suggested that the crypto industry needs a “trifecta of progress” in the form of institutional tools, support from banks, and regulatory clarity.

“Crypto still faces significant internal resistance and hurdles within traditional financial institutions… But it is encouraging, nonetheless, that a large share of incremental attendance are financial institutions.”

According to Bloomberg, Fundstrat still expects Bitcoin’s price to go as high as $25,000 by the end of this year. Earlier this month, Tom Lee himself predicted Bitcoin to be worth $36,000 by the end of 2019, “based on the historical average 1.8x P/BE multiple.”