Goldman Sachs Bitcoin Predictions: Cryptocurrencies Will Fall To Zero

Just how long with the slide continue for cryptocurrency market? The global head of investment research at Goldman Sachs is warning that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies could drop all the way down to zero.

In a report written by Goldman Sachs’ Steve Strongin dated Feb. 5, the investment expert predicted the long-term prospects for much of the current cryptocurrency market are essentially non-existent—only a small number of coins will survive.

Strongin didn’t go so far as to set a time frame for when coins will start disappearing but did say the way the markets have moved indicates that not all of the hundreds of cryptocurrencies currently in circulation will be able to continue to operate.

According to the analyst, the cryptocurrency market hasn’t been behaving rationally. Many of the coins move in near synchronicity, increasing and decreasing in value together. That isn’t sustainable for a market where only a few coins can truly “win.”

“The high correlation between the different cryptocurrencies worries me,” Strongin wrote in the report. “Because of the lack of intrinsic value, the currencies that don’t survive will most likely trade to zero.”

Strongin also compared the cryptocurrency market to the boom in tech during the late 1990s—an occurrence that eventually led to a massive bubble popping. But even in that bubble, Goldman’s head of research noted, there were survivors.

“Are any of today’s cryptocurrencies going to be an Amazon or a Google, or will they end up like many of the now-defunct search engines? Just because we are in a speculative bubble does not mean current prices can’t increase for a handful of survivors,” Strongin wrote. “At the same time, it probably does mean that most, if not all, will never see their recent peaks again.”

Strongin is not the first analyst to predict the majority of cryptocurrencies have already seen their best days. Economist Nouriel Roubini—a man who has become famous for his doom and gloom predictions about the economy—expressed this week his belief that Bitcoin is likely to completely bottom out.

“Bitcoin crashing now to $6,100. And the U.S. Hearing on cryptoscams is only a day away. So a $5,000 handle looks highly likely unless the crypto-manipulation gangs starts pumping and dumping or wash trading again,” Roubini said on Twitter.

The economist also provided a piece of advice directed to Bitcoin investors who have bought into the common concept of “HODL”—a misspelling of “hold” first posted on a popular Bitcoin forum that quickly spread as a mantra through the community—that encourages riding out rough periods.

“HODL nuts: be ready for a 75 [percent] loss from recent peaks,” Roubini warned . “HODL nuts will hold their melting Bitcoins all the way down to ZERO while scammers and whales dump and run.”

Roubini’s outlook for Bitcoin is not new—the economist has been hammering the cryptocurrency for years and has recently referred to Bitcoin as “biggest bubble in human history.” In an interview with Bloomberg last week, he said the recent downturn in the cryptocurrency markets indicates the “mother of all bubbles” is finally crashing.