Wall Street laughed at a call for bitcoin at $25000but after a 400% surge, the laughter is fading – MarketWatch

Yuk it up! But will Yves Lamoureux have the laugh last?

Back in February when one bitcoin was worth $994, the owner of an eponymously named boutique advisory firm in Montreal forecast that the cryptocurrency would hit $25,000 over the next 10 or 15 yearsa figure that is both outlandish and mind-boggling, and it was met with more than just a dollop of skepticism and derision.

However, as the digital currency has surged a breathtaking 400% over the past year, Wall Street may be apt to take Lamoureuxs call a little more seriously. At least, thats the hope of the 54-year-old former retail broker and trader who established what he describes as macroeconomic research firm, Lamoureux & Co., about four years ago.

I was talking to institutions and just a few months back some were skeptical for whatever reason, now that this thing has shot up, now they are ready to listen and they are ready to buy [bitcoins], Lamoureux told MarketWatch.

Read: Opinion: Three reasons to fear the coming crash in bitcoins

On Thursday, a single bitcoin BTCUSD, -1.98% surpassed the record level of $2,700 before retreating back to around $2,555.88 in recent trade. That swing, perhaps, highlights the volatility inherent in the digital currency that has reclaimed the worlds attention three years after spectacularly imploding following Mt. Goxone of the first and formerly one of the largest bitcoin exchanges, which abruptly halted bitcoin withdrawals after a security breach.

Against that backdrop, doubts about bitcoins staying power this time around, and its ability to clamber to fresh records unimpeded, would be logical.

But Lamoureux makes the case that this time it is different. His argument is that bitcoinand its underpinning, the blockchainis in the early stages of a long-term uptrend that he likened to the nascence of the dot-com era.

From the ashes [of the dot-com bubble], we got the real take of what was to come. You can go on your smartphone and do anything you want. Ten or 15 years back, we would not have been able to imagine that, he said. Thats what we have with bitcoin now, he said.

That may be an apt analogy since hes expecting the run-up for the digital currency to be interrupted by more than a few bumps in the road, but hes still uncategorically bullish on the asset.

Lamoureux also touts the view that bitcoins moves appear to be uncorrelated to other assets, like the S&P 500 index SPX, +0.44% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.34% 10-year Treasury notes TMUBMUSD10Y, -0.16% or gold GCM7, +0.40% In other words, bitcoin doesnt have a significant relationship with other asset classes, moving independent of them. Thats a feature that may appeal to investors looking to diversify their portfolios to mitigate losses in other investment segments, Lamoureux says.

What I am basically trying to tell my clients is that [bitcoin] is noncorrelated asset to anything that they own in their portfolio, he said.

Of course, bitcoins reemergence can make it a playground that is rampant for speculation. And there are some who believe that moves in the relatively thinly traded cryptocurrency are being manipulated by a handful of owners with hefty bitcoin positions.

Still, the Qubecois is far from the only one bullish on bitcoin and attempting to proselytize those uninitiated.

John McAfee, of antivirus software fame, is calling for bitcoin to hit 3,000 soon. Bitcoin has enormous momentum, McAfee said. MGT Capital Investments Inc., his cybersecurity-focused investment fund MGTI, +48.57% is ramping up its operations to increase its position in bitcoin.

Meanwhile, Cathie Wood, chief executive officer of ARK Investment Management, told MarketWatchs Ryan Vlastelica that bitcoin is underappreciated: Weve watched the volatility in bitcoin ever since we first bought it, and were not blind to the fact that prices are driven by speculation to a certain degree. However, we think its utility is very underappreciated, and that there isnt as much speculation as people think, necessarily.

Earlier this week, billionaire and Fidelity Investments scion, Abigail Johnson, said bitcoin has some wrinkles to iron out before it becomes more widely adopted, but envisioned a rosy future for the digital currency. I like to think that huge new markets and products will be built on these platforms, she said at Consensus, a conference put on by digital currency site CoinDesk.

Bitcoins recent rally has coincided with its growing acceptance by regulators. A law passed by Japanese lawmakers earlier this year that allows financial institutions to participate in the digital-currency market took effect in April.

Meanwhile, bitcoin may have garnered additional legitimacy recently after the Securities and Exchange Commission said it would reassess its earlier ruling in March that effectively killed the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust, which had been closely watched for signs that the digital currency could underpin an exchange-traded funda potentially bullish move for its price.

To be sure, the recent and unrelenting focus on bitcoin should send one clear message to wannabe investorseven if Lamoureux and other digital currency enthusiasts are correct in their predictions: Be wary.

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Wall Street laughed at a call for bitcoin at $25000but after a 400% surge, the laughter is fading - MarketWatch