Is bitcoin doomed? Price may soon crash to $1,000, Wall Street veteran warns

Despite a stratospheric rise in value over the past year, the price of bitcoin could fall to $1,000 (£719, €816) per coin over the next 12 months, a major Wall Street investment chief has warned.

The complex and volatile crypto market is unpredictable, and crackdowns from government regulatory authorities around the world led to a crash in value across the board – with the bitcoin price tumbling from an all-time high of over $19,000 in December 2017 to under $10,000.

While it levelled out at roughly $11,000 per coin, where it currently remains, Bleakley Advisory Group's chief investment officer, Peter Boockvar, has said that the storm may not be over just yet.

"I think bitcoin is going to be around for a long time but the price itself I wouldn't be surprised if over the next year it is down to $1,000 - $3,000," he told CNBC in a recent interview.

Boockvar is the latest mainstream financial expert to weigh in on the debate about whether bitcoin is in a bubble and on the brink of bursting.

Many investors – seemingly caught up in the hype of the so-called 'crypto-boom' – appeared spooked following the dwindling prices. A fall to $1,000 would bring the price down to its previous level in January last year.

Blaming the rush to invest on the attitudes and policies of central banks, he told CNBC that theimminent crash will likely come alongside a rise in global interest rates. But Boockvar noted that any financial impact on the US stock market would ultimately be minimal.

He said: "I think that [the impact] would be more psychological, from an economic standpoint it's not something that is that relevant in a 19 trillion dollar economy.

"Now maybe in South Korea and Japan – and even in the US – when people are taking on credit card debt to buy coins, they are going to be impacted.

"But I think we have to look at it more broadly in the sense that the central bank bubble manifested itself in many different places, and just recently cryptocurrencies. So if cryptocurrencies roll over and collapse then maybe that's a sign that the risk-taking attitude of investors is changing."

He added: "Maybe that's because of monetary tightening that's intensifying this year, maybe it's because of the rise we are seeing in interest rates. From a pure economic standpoint I don't see it having a major impact if the price of bitcoin continued to decline."

It has recently emerged that bitcoin exchanges were facing increasing government pressure in India - a huge cryptocurrency market, leading to fears it could negatively affect currency's value.