Guggenheim’s Scott Minerd warns bitcoin could plunge 50% near-term “” ‘things are very frothy’

Guggenheim’s Scott Minerd warns bitcoin could plunge 50% near-term “” ‘things are very frothy’

Guggenheim Partners' Scott Minerd remains long-term bullish on bitcoin, but said Wednesday the world's largest cryptocurrency has run too far, too fast.

"Given the massive move we've had in bitcoin over the short run, things are very frothy, and I think we're going to have to have a major correction in bitcoin," the firm's global chief investment officer told CNBC's "Worldwide Exchange."

Bitcoin traded just under $55,000 per token Wednesday morning, one week after setting an all-time high of nearly $65,000 in the run-up to crypto exchange Coinbase's blockbuster direct listing.

"I think we could pull back to $20,000 to $30,000 on bitcoin, which would be a 50% decline, but the interesting thing about bitcoin is we've seen these kinds of declines before," Minerd said. However, he said he thinks it's part of "the normal evolution in what is a longer-term bull market," with bitcoin prices eventually reaching between $400,000 to $600,000 per unit.

Minerd turned heads late last year when he first shared his long-range price target for bitcoin, citing its inherent scarcity “” only 21 million bitcoins will ever be created “” and its value relative to assets such as gold. Those remarks in December fell on the same day the digital currency