Milken Institute
- Scott Minerd told CNBC bitcoin hasn't hit its bottom just yet.
- The Guggenheim global CIO is a long-term bitcoin bull who has previously said the crypto could reach $400,000.
- But on Tuesday he said bitcoin had gone "exponential" and it will take some time for the coin to climb back up to is previous highs.
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Scott Minerd told CNBC on Tuesday that bitcoin's harsh sell-off probably has further to go, and investors will need to be patient for the cryptocurrency to ultimately climb back to its previous levels.
The Guggenheim global chief investment officer said that bitcoin had gone "exponential" over the last few months and was due for a correction. When bitcoin hit it's all time high above $64,000 last month, its year-to-date gains stood at roughly 120%. The cryptocurrency has now fallen about 42% from its highest point, and Minerd expects selling to continue.
"Any market that goes exponential is automatically unsustainable. I just looked at it and realized that given the size of the move, which was essentially a mania or a bubble, that traditionally you get 50 to 75%, declines coming out of the top of the bubble," he said.
Minerd is a bitcoin bull who has previously stated the cryptocurrency could hit $400,000 in the long-run. But he's also been predicting a correction for bitcoin for quite some time. On April 21, Minerd told CNBC bitcoin could bottom out somewhere between $20,000 and $30,000, echoing a claim he made in January. He said in April that the pullback would form part of a normal market cycle's ups and downs.
On Tuesday, he added that it will take bitcoin "a while" to build a base and consolidate again. An obstacle to bitcoin will be that there are now investors who are allocating capital into competing cryptocurrencies instead of bitcoin, he added.
He ultimately sees bitcoin and ether as "winners" in the cryptocurrency market. Minerd also said that there could ultimately be other cryptocurrencies in the coming years that overcome the environmental costs of mining.
