On Thursday, Bitcoin briefly flirted with the $10,000 mark.

That’s a very fast rebound from the massive sell-off Bitcoin suffered in March due to the impact of the coronavirus. At the time, it touched a low of $4,017, in what appears in hindsight to be a mouth-watering price. It is now trading at $9,850, showing an appreciation of 145%.

According to Coindesk, high volume buying on spot exchanges such as Coinbase triggered the crypto’s lunge at $10,000.

Halving on May 12

Crypto aficionados are also full of anticipation for a bull run emanating from bitcoin’s ‘halving’ scheduled on May 12. That’s when mining rewards will fall from 12.50 BTC to 6.25 BTC per block. The reduction is likely to take supply off the market, and possibly send bitcoin into a fresh bull orbit.

But opinion is divided, and bitcoin may head the other way, too. (It’s done that in a previous halving, for a short while)

A well-reasoned Bloomberg analysis is very bullish

The Bloomberg Crypto Outlook, May 2020 edition, issued by Bloomberg Senior Commodity Strategist Mike Mcglone, is unreservedly bullish on the prospects of Bitcoin. The “firstborn cryptocurrency” seems to be firing on all cylinders, being supported by favorable supply, demand, and macroeconomics.

“In an unprecedented year due to the coronavirus, we see gold and Bitcoin sustaining the upper hand on the back of unparalleled central-bank monetary stimulus,” writes McGlone.

“Unlike quasi-currency brethren gold, higher prices won’t be an incentive for more supply,” observed the analyst.

It appears that, among “risk-off” assets, McGlone has placed Bitcoin on an even higher pedestal than gold.

More fancy targets come out of the woodwork

CEO of capital management giant Morgan Creek, Mark Yusko, said in an interview on Wednesday that if Bitcoin’s market cap achieves the same value as that of gold, the price of the crypto could logically touch $100,000 at some point between 2021 and 2022.

“I actually believe that this transition will be the biggest wealth creation opportunity I’ll probably see in my lifetime,” Yusko said.

Of course, perma-bull Pantera Capital CEO Dan Morehead has even loftier valuations in mind.

“Bitcoin has historically bottomed 459 days prior to the halving, climbed leading into it, and then exploded to the upside afterward. The post-halving rallies have averaged 446 days – from the halving to the peak of that bull cycle. In this cycle, the market did in fact trough 514 days before the halving,” says Morehead.

“IF history were to repeat itself, bitcoin would peak in August 2021 – at $533,431. Obviously, that’s a big IF. That price sounds ludicrous… Just sayin’ that there’s more than a 50-50 chance bitcoin goes up – and goes up big.”

Further, Bloomberg said on Thursday that macro investor and billionaire Paul Tudor Jones is buying Bitcoin as a hedge against the inflation he sees coming from central bank money-printing.

“The best profit-maximizing strategy is to own the fastest horse […] If I am forced to forecast, my bet is it will be Bitcoin,”  Jones wrote in a market outlook note titled “The Great Monetary Inflation.”

Related Story:    Digital Assets: Bitcoin, the First-Born Crypto, is Highly Bullish (Bloomberg Report)