Key analysts at financial publisher Bloomberg have become the latest to predict a surge for bitcoin with an in-depth report proposing that the cryptocurrency could hit a valuation of around $400,000 (£290,000) this year.

The Bloomberg report is based on statistical modelling of recent data compared to previous bull market runs, suggests the digital currency is on a similar path to 2013 when it surged by 55 times, and 2017 where its value shot up 17-fold on previous levels.

The Bloomberg analysts see echoes of this year’s rally in those of the two previous major bull runs. Both came around a year after the practice of reward halving on the Bitcoin blockchain.

Commenting on the news, crypto investment expert Stephen Kelso, Head of Capital Markets, ITI Capital said: “With a sharp debasement of fiat currencies, investors are increasingly losing confidence in savings and are rapidly waking up to the fact that Bitcoin is better at being gold than gold.

“There are many reasons for this. As a digital asset, Bitcoin is cost-effective and easier to access than gold in a vault, which leaves investors at the mercy of rising real interest rates. The scarcity of Bitcoin, which is limited to 21 million coins, makes it the preferred Scarcity Asset for institutional and retail investors as no improvement in technology or refinement can increase that supply. Additionally, Bitcoin allows direct access to its owners without dependency on intermediaries like administrators or asset managers, potentially in different jurisdictions.

Kelso continued, “Until recently, established brokers, advisors and banks wrote-off crypto as ‘too volatile’- as they did with today’s household tech brands 20 years ago, failing to recognise it as a legitimate asset-class in advice issued to investors. Now we’re seeing a dramatic change in approach from asset and wealth managers, who increasingly advise their clients that Bitcoin is a preferential investment over gold.”