Mark Mobius sees Bitcoin down at $10,000 in ‘dangerous’ crypto market

Mark Mobius, co-founder of Mobius Capital Partners, pauses during a Bloomberg Television interview in London, U.K., on Wednesday, May 15, 2019. The emerging-market benchmark index will probably keep falling if the trade war persists, given China's significant weighting, Mobius said during the interview.

The crypto rout has room to run, according to veteran fund manager Mark Mobius.

The co-founder of Mobius Capital Partners LLP said in an interview Monday in Singapore that his next target for Bitcoin is $10,000. He added he wouldn’t invest his own cash or client money in digital assets as “it’s too dangerous.”

“But crypto is here to stay as there are several investors who still have faith in it,” said Mobius, who spent more than three decades at Franklin Templeton Investments. “It’s amazing how Bitcoin prices have held up” despite the FTX fallout, he added.

The chaotic slide into bankruptcy of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX exchange and sister trading house Alameda Research is hanging over the digital-asset market. The worry is that contagion may topple more crypto outfits.

Some crypto commentators are homing in on a return to $10,000, would which take Bitcoin back to levels last seen in 2020 before the token’s bull run to a record of almost $69,000 by November last year.

Options data from Deribit show a high number of outstanding Bitcoin put contracts -- so-called open interest -- at a strike price of $10,000 for end-December expiry. The concentration of options bets suggests derivative investors anticipate that level could be tested.

Bitcoin fell as much as 3.2% Monday amid a sour mood in global markets and was trading at about $16,200 as of 7:10 a.m. in London. Digital assets ranging from Ether to meme token Dogecoin were also nursing losses. A gauge of the top 100 coins has shed about 65% this year.