Bitcoin’s 

BTC

$22,773

 market capitalization of $1 trillion and potential for continued growth have made the cryptocurrency “too important to ignore,” according to Deutsche Bank analysts.

Deutsche Bank Research, the financial research subsidiary of global banking giant Deutsche Bank, issued a report devoted exclusively to Bitcoin, titled “The Future of Payments: Series 2 Part III. Bitcoins: Can the Tinkerbell Effect Become a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy?”

In the 18-page study, Deutsche Bank Research describes the basic characteristics of Bitcoin and analyzes the key drivers of its historical price growth to a $1 trillion asset.

Deutsche Bank analysts suggested that the Bitcoin price “could continue to rise” further as long as asset managers and companies continue to enter the market. The firm emphasized that central banks and governments now “understand that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are here to stay” and thus are expected to start regulating them by late 2021.

Despite its rising valuation, Bitcoin's growth as an asset class could be hampered by its “still limited” tradability and liquidity, Deutsche Bank Research warned. “The real debate is whether rising valuations alone can be reason enough for bitcoin to evolve into an asset class, or whether its illiquidity is an obstacle,” the analysts stated.

Bitcoin is expected to “remain ultravolatile” in the short term, Deutsche Bank analysts concluded, forecasting a turning point for Bitcoin in the next “two or three years” as a consensus about its future may emerge.