An unknown trader or group of traders has placed a millions of rand bet that the Bitcoin price will reach R600 000 by the end of 2018.
The buyer or buyers paid an average of R45 300 per Bitcoin – a fee roughly equivalent to one-fifth of Bitcoin at today’s exchange rate – to lock in a price of R600 000 until December 8, 2018.
Just to break even even, the Bitcoin price will need to reach R675 808 – plus the cost of the trading fees, representing an increase of approximately 320% from its current value of R201 764.
This means that, effectively, the Bitcoin price could triple over the next year and buyer would still lose money on the trade.
However, if the Bitcoin price does manage to replicate this year’s unprecedented performance in 2018, it could prove to be the trade of lifetime.