Bitcoin 2018

Co-founder and Fundstat strategist Tom Lee predicted that Bitcoin (BTC) will hit $25,000 by the end of this year in an interview with CNBC today, Jan. 18. Lee had previously forecasted that BTC would only reach this mark by 2022.

The Wall Street strategist told CNBC today that now by 2022 he sees BTC hitting the $125,000 mark.

Lee’s prediction comes after a very volatile week in the crypto market, with BTC hitting below $10,000, dipping even lower than it did during the market crash Dec. 22. Just days before the December crash, Bitcoin had hit an all-time high over$20,000.

Lee predicts that $9,000, or just below the lows seen this week, will be the price floor for BTC this year. He sees another market dip as an opportunity for investors:

"We expect bitcoin's major low to be $9,000, and we would be aggressive buyers around that level [...] We view this$9,000 as the biggest buying opportunity in 2018."

Lee also offered predictions for several altcoins, forecasting that Ethereum and Ethereum Classic would see about 90 percent growth by the end of the year, and NEO 50 percent.

Today, the crypto market began its bounce back, with BTC up almost 15 percent and the top 20 altcoins up as much as 70 percent in the 24 hours to press time.