As Bitcoin (BTC) continues to trade sideways around $48,000, Kraken CEO Jesse Powell is non counting out a potential crash on cryptocurrency markets in the short term.

A crypto winter is now "possible," Powell said in a Tuesday interview with Bloomberg Engineering, noting that Bitcoin and the crypto ecosystem have historically evolved effectually cycles based "sort of around the Bitcoin halving."

Merely despite a potentially looming crypto winter, Powell is confident that the marketplace will bounce back from a comport market once investors start buying, should BTC drop below $40,000:

"I think a lot of people come across anything under $40,000 every bit a ownership opportunity. I was personally buying when nosotros dipped back shut to $thirty,000 a few months ago and I think a lot of people are just waiting to come back in at rock bottom prices."

In the interview, Powell mentioned some of his previous Bitcoin predictions, including his $100,000 Bitcoin forecast for late 2022. The CEO made this prediction in August, stating, "I recall we could see $100,000 plus a coin tardily this yr early on side by side year." He also predicted that Bitcoin toll is going to "infinity" in March.

"It's hard to know where it goes," Kraken CEO said in the latest interview, noting that he is nonetheless bullish on Bitcoin in the long term. "When yous look at a long-term trendline of Bitcoin and information technology'due south merely up consistently. I always tell people, 'If you remember about ownership Bitcoin, think about information technology every bit a five-year plus investment.'"

Related: Bitcoin sheds 'dumb coin' as retail buys most BTC since March 2022 crash

Many prominent figures in the crypto community predicted BTC would hit $100,000 by the end of 2022, including stock-to-menstruum model creator PlanB, Morgan Creek Digital Avails co-founder Anthony Pompliano, SkyBridge Capital letter CEO Anthony Scaramucci and others.

Concluding week, Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan claimed that $100,000 by the end of the yr was a "difficult prediction to make," suggesting that the price level could come in 2022.