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The Bitcoin Price Could Top $10,000 After Blockchain Week New York - 17th MAY

Blockchain Week New York begins today and the hype surrounding the event could be enough to send the Bitcoin price back above the psychological $10,000 mark for the first time since early March.

The Bitcoin price — which has risen following the Consensus event for each of the past three years — has been hovering just under the $10,000 line for the past few weeks and came close to crossing it last weekend before falling back. It's currently trading at around $9,000 per coin.

This is the first year New York City is holding a Blockchain Week, which will run from today through to 17 May, and is being held in partnership with research and media company Coindesk and the New York City Economic Development Corporation — a non-profit that serves as the city’s job-creation arm.

Last year Consensus, one of Blockchain Week's largest events, kicked off the Bitcoin price boom that saw it climb over the summer and through to December, hitting a staggering $19,000 before falling sharply back at beginning of 2018.

Some 8,000 people are expected to attend events as part of Blockchain Week New York this year, which includes talks from the likes of Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey on Monday, St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank president James Bullard and European Parliament member Eva Kaili.

Bitcoin traders and investors will be closely listening to these and other traditional tech and finance big hitters to gauge Bitcoin price sentiment and any plans they have to use cryptocurrency.

Robert Sluymer, managing director and technical strategist at investment research firm Fundstrat Global Advisors, told CNBC's Fast Money show the Bitcoin price has spiked each year after Consensus.

Consensus includes a hackathon and blockchain job fair and will begin on Monday 14 May.

Consensus 2018 will feature 250 speakers and 4,000 attendees from startups, investors, financial institutions, and academic and policy groups who will discuss the blockchain and a future digital currency economy.

However, there has been plenty of good news for the Bitcoin price in recent weeks which has failed to push it up.

Last week the New York Times reported investment banking giant Goldman Sachs is looking into ways to trade cryptocurrency tokens and is planning to post bids and offers for Bitcoin futures.

Elsewhere, there have also been reports the owner of the New York Stock Exchange, Intercontinental Exchange, is considering a type of Bitcoin swap for institutional investors.

Both are big news for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in the established financial world and could mean that even the hype of Blockchain Week New York might not be enough to chase away the Bitcoin bears.

Meanwhile, Fundstrat — which has long been bullish on Bitcoin — yesterday predicted that the Bitcoin price could eventually soar to as high as $64,000 in the long term and $36,000 by the end of 2019 due to the growth of Bitcoin mining — the process of creating new Bitcoins using computers to solve complex mathematical equations.

Sam Doctor, head of data science research at Fundstrat, said: "We believe the current path of hash power growth supports a Bitcoin price of about $36,000 by 2019 year end, with a $20,000-$64,000 range."

As hash power — also known as processing power — increases, computers ability to solve Bitcoin-creating equations grows with it and Fundstrat predicts hash power will grow 350% through 2019.

And Bitcoin mining firms are thought to have done well as a result of last year's bull run — leaving them lots of money to reinvest.

One of the world's largest Bitcoin mining hardware makers, Bitmain, is thought to have made around $4 billion in operating profit last year.

Meanwhile, rival Canaan is targeting a $1 billion valuation from its planned initial public offering.

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