Top cryptocurrency Bitcoin could reach $100,000 by the end of 2024, Standard Chartered (STAN.L) said on Monday, saying that the so-called “crypto winter” is over.
Bitcoin could gain from factors including the recent turmoil in the banking sector, a stabilization of risk assets as the U.S. Federal Reserve ends its interest rate-hiking cycle, and improved profitability of crypto mining, Standard Chartered’s head of digital assets research Geoff Kendrick said in a note.
“While sources of uncertainty remain, we think the pathway to the USD 100,000 level is becoming clearer,” Kendrick wrote.
Bitcoin has rallied this year, rising above $30,000 in April for the first time in ten months. Its gains represent a partial recovery after trillions of dollars were wiped from the crypto sector in 2022, as central banks hiked rates and a string of crypto firms imploded.
Predictions of sky-high valuations have been commonplace during Bitcoin’s past rallies. A Citi analyst said in November 2020 that Bitcoin could climb as high as $318,000 by the end of 2022. It closed last year down about 65% at $16,500.
In Monday’s note, Standard Chartered said that Bitcoin has benefited from its status as a “branded safe haven, a perceived relative store of value and a means of remittance.”
Kendrick said the European Parliament’s backing of the European Union’s first set of rules to regulate crypto asset markets “should provide a tailwind” for Bitcoin.
JPMorgan said in a note on April 5 that a technical change to the Bitcoin blockchain in April 2024, known as its “halving”, could boost its price by making it more expensive to produce, causing a “positive psychological effect”.
JPMorgan said that cryptocurrency prices have benefited from crypto enthusiasts interpreting the recent U.S. banking crisis as a “vindication of the crypto ecosystem”. Crypto supporters say stablecoins are “less susceptible to runs”, JPMorgan said.
U.S. regulators have previously told banks to be alert for liquidity risks from crypto-related deposits, such as stablecoin reserves, which could be subject to rapid outflows.