McAfee, Dimon And The Bitcoin Bloodbath: Buy The Dip?

The bitcoin space has been a battleground between over the last few weeks and – to a large degree – the bears are in control right now. The bitcoin price has fallen from just shy of $5000 a piece to current levels just ahead of $3500 and – for now at least – shows no sign of finding a near-term bottom.Two individuals have emerged as what we might call figureheads of each side of the market.In the bear corner is JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) Chief, Jamie Dimon. In the bull corner is cybersecurity legend John McAfee.The latter is one we have mentioned on a number of occasions here at Insider Financial. His association with MGT Capital Investments Inc. (OTCMKTS:MGTI) and the company's focus on building out a large bitcoin mining facility has driven the company's upside revaluation over the last six months or so, in line with that of underlying bitcoin. McAfee recently said he expects bitcoin to be at $500,000 within a few years.The former, Dimon, called bitcoin a fraud this week and outlined his expectations that the cryptocurrency is set to blow up near term.So you've got one side saying bitcoin will be at half a million dollars by the end of the decade and another saying that it will be at zero.Who should you believe?In a word, McAfee.Credit where credit is due, Dimon is a great leader at Morgan. He's been involved with some rather unsavory aspects of the behemoth's operations over the last half decade or so but the stock is up more than 120% over the last five years and it's tough to argue with that.What he's not, however, is a tech expert. As Alex Gureviceh, ex-Global Head Macro at JPM points out here, he's not even a trader.

Jamie, you're a great boss and the GOAT bank CEO. You're not a trader or tech entrepreneur. Please, STFU about trading $BTC.

— Alex Gurevich (@agurevich23) September 12, 2017

He's a manager and as his expectations (and the reasons he has given to support them) illustrate, he's really got no idea where or what bitcoin is going to do over he coming five years.So the obvious takeaway here, then, is buy the dip.This is an opportunity to pick up an exposure to bitcoin at a price that's close to 25% cheaper than it was just a few weeks ago. For anyone that has a bitcoin wallet and easy access to coins, that's great news.We're a stock market site, of course, so many reading might want to pick up alternative, publicly traded exposures, instead of buying BTC outright.Well, that's no problem either. As bitcoin has dipped, so have a handful of stocks that were rising in line with the currency in recent months. Once bitcoin recovers, these stocks should also start to pick up strength and – as such – they present great recovery plays at current prices.The above mentioned MGT is an obvious starting point, but which other options are available?Bitcoin Investment Trust (OTCMKTS:GBTC), the closest we've got to a bitcoin ETF, is down 34% since September 7. BITCOIN SERVICES I COM USD0.001 (OTCMKTS:BTSC) is another we've looked at on a number of occasions here at this site and it's currently trading at a 33% discount to its pricing this time last month. BTCS Inc (OTCMKTS:BTCS), which recently signed an LOI for a merger with an Australian entity called Blockchain Global, is in a similar position – down 26% over the last five days.We're not saying that this is a risk-free space right now. We're not even saying that bitcoin (and in turn, these companies mentioned above) have found the bottom of the recent correction. What we are saying, however, is that a correction is what this is and – sooner or later – we're going to see the space recover above and beyond last months' highs.We will be updating our subscribers as soon as we know more. For the latest updates on the bitcoin space and top bitcoin stocks, sign up below!Image courtesy of Microsiervos via FlickrDisclosure: We have no position in any of the securities mentioned and have not been compensated for this article.