Bitcoin is still a buy despite its continued losses, blockchain venture capitalist Spencer Bogart told CNBC.
The digital currency’s increased number of use cases is proof that the popular form of money is being institutionalized.
“Every major bank is trying to do something in the space,” Bogart, a partner at Blockchain Capital, told CNBC’s “Fast Money” on Friday.
“Either they’re going to be offering bitcoin to their clients, they’re working on a custody platform or they’re opening up a trading desk,” he added. “A deeper institutionalization of bitcoin is overall positive,” he said.
Still, the coin has seen better days. After surging last December to around $19,500, bitcoin has declined more than 50 percent since the start of the year. On Thursday, with increased regulatory scrutiny in the cryptocurrency space, the coin fell yet again — this time below $8,000, where bitcoin had hovered for several weeks. Late Friday, bitcoin changed hands around $7,400.
Regardless, Bogart said it’s still a buy. In fact, he said it’s the only coin traders should be buying as the coin becomes more mainstream.
Many of the other forms of cryptocurrency, Bogart said, are “over-promising and under-delivering. Meanwhile you have a few that are kind of excelling at their use cases. Bitcoin being one of them.”
Bogart said to sell coins like Cardano, TRON, IOTA and NEO.
“A lot of those tokens are overvalued,” Bogart said. “They could be go up significantly, but they also have significant headwind.”
Alternatives like ethereum, ripple, bitcoin cash and EOS, however, he described as “neutral” — and he told investors to hold for now.
Bogart said he’s especially cautious with ethereum, which he said has a lot of overhang because so many initial coin offerings (ICOs) have been built on top of ethereum. He pointed out that if the ICOs don’t work out, that could be bad news for the platform its built on.
Bitcoin, however, should “at least” end above $10,000 by the end of the year, Bogart said, but he acknowledged that the even the large-cap coin could face some headwinds.
“But when I look out over the next year, two years, I mean the story is very much materializing,” he said of bitcoin increasing value.
“Could bitcoin trade lower? Certainly,” Bogart said. “But do I think it will be higher a year from now? Absolutely.”
