Expert Expects to See Bitcoin Rally in Second Quarter

Bitcoin just had it’s worst quarter ever but one cryptocurrency expert expects to see numerous factors in the second quarter contribute to price gains for the rest of 2018, according to reports.

Crypto Expert says First Quarter is Historically Slow

Brian Kelly of Brian Kelly Capital and a contributor to CNBC’s “Fast Money” went on air to talk second quarter growth on Tuesday. He showed how traditionally Bitcoin has experienced bad first quarters, even in 2017 when the market went on a meteoric rise the first quarter growth was just over 10%.

Kelly told the “Futures Now” segment that cryptocurrency has historically performed better in the second quarter, predicting that “There will be a significant rally here if seasonality brings tail winds.”

What he was referring to as seasonality is the annual developmental cycle and cryptocurrency conferences like the Consensus in May which can inspire confidence in trading.

Another major factor Kelly sees as part of a potential rebound in the second quarter is that regulation based fear in cryptocurrency investing will begin to wear off as countries start to settle on policies. As he told the “Futures Now” panel;

“We’ve gone to the extreme of the regulation which is South Korea thinking they’re going to ban it, the U.S. talking about everything being a security, to walking it back … you’re seeing a shift again in that type of thing. I think most of that’s behind us.”

Regulation of the cryptocurrency market spread globally after the massive gains Bitcoin and other alternative currencies experienced in the later part of 2017. Countries such as China and India both major markets for digital currencies made extensive moves to ban exchanges and ICO’s while Japan and the U.S. both struggle with creating a regulatory balance that allows exchanges to do business while controlling fraud and crypto related criminal activity.

Kelly commenting further on regualtion said “I don’t think regulation is a bad thing … it doesn’t kill any other market as long as we do it correctly and we don’t stifle innovation. Regulation might actually increase adoption.”

Monex to Take Over Coincheck

Another factor Kelly pointed out is the Japanese exchange Monex potentially taking over troubled exchange Coincheck. Monex plans to offer several billion Yen in a bid to takeover and restructure Coincheck by the end of the week.

News of the takeover has already boosted the price of Bitcoin on Tuesday according to CNBC and Kelly sees the deal bolstering public opinion, adding “It’s a massive confidence boost; you now have a regulated public company in Japan buying into a crypto exchange … this puts a stamp of approval, and Japan is a huge driver of this market.”

Only days into the second quarter and Bitcoin has already seen an uptick of over 8% with price gains of $400 on Tuesday alone.