Bitcoin price rises as Swiss bank CEO predicts all-time high in 2022

Major cryptocurrencies were broadly higher on Thursday morning after the head of Swiss bank Seba forecast that bitcoin (BTC-USD) would hit a new high in the next 12 months.

CEO Guido Buehler said the cryptocurrency could reach as high as $75,000 (£54,581) over the next 12 months as more institutional investors embrace it, crossing the current all-time high of $69,000, which it hit in November last year.

“Our internal valuation models indicate a price right now between $50,000 and $75,000. I’m quite confident we’re going to see that level. The question is always timing,” he said at the Crypto Finance Conference in St. Moritz in Switzerland

“Institutional money will probably drive the price up. We are working as a fully regulated bank. We have asset pools that are looking for the right time to invest.”

Read more: Live crypto prices

At the time of writing, bitcoin was up 2.6% to trade at $43,935. Ethereum (ETH-USD), the second largest crypto by market cap, was up 3.3% to trade at $3,368.

On Wednesday cryptos were boosted by news that the US consumer price index, a key inflation gauge, rose 7% in December. Despite the steep climb, it was still better than many analysts had predicted.

Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Ava Trade, said exchange data shows that whales are "playing with the bitcoin supply."

"This means that there has been a significant spike in bitcoin outflow from crypto exchanges to personal wallets and this is creating a shortage of bitcoin supply, and it is pushing the bitcoin price in the right direction."

He also said that the biggest and the most important number for bitcoin is the support of $40K, and as long as this remains intact “we are likely to see higher moves for the bitcoin price.”

However, he said this was “a scenario which isn’t likely”.

Read more: Crypto backers believe bitcoin and NFTs give better returns than stocks, survey finds

“Moving averages, 50-week high or lows and such other indicators are of no value for an analyst when it comes to bitcoin. It is the biggest speculative asset of the 21st century so far,” Kunal Sawhney, CEO, Kalkine Group told Yahoo Finance UK.

“Prices in the coming weeks or months will be a product of this speculation by bitcoin enthusiasts and critics.”

Watch: What are the risks of investing in cryptocurrency?