British Multinational Bank Predicts $100K Bitcoin by End of Next Year

Standard Chartered Bank has reaffirmed its April forecast, projecting that Bitcoin (BTC) will reach a value of $100,000 by the end of 2024.

Standard Chartered is a multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in London, England. Despite its British base, it operates predominantly in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. The bank’s history dates back to the mid-19th century, with its heritage stemming from two banks: the Standard Bank of British South Africa and the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China.

Standard Chartered offers a broad range of services including retail banking, corporate and institutional banking, and treasury services. It’s known for its strong presence in emerging markets, a strategy that differentiates it from many other global banks that tend to focus more on the US and European markets.

According to a report by CoinDesk published earlier today, Geoff Kendrick and his team at Standard Chartered believe that the widely anticipated approval of several spot Bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. will be a significant catalyst for Bitcoin’s price increase. They anticipate these approvals to occur earlier than previously expected, possibly in the first quarter of 2024.

The team apparently expects that the approval of these spot ETFs for both Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) will pave the way for increased institutional investment in these cryptocurrencies.

Another critical factor contributing to the bank’s bullish stance is the next Bitcoin halving, which is expected to occur in around mid April 2024. The halving is a mechanism that reduces the reward for mining new blocks, effectively limiting the supply of new bitcoins. This event is traditionally seen as a catalyst for price increases due to the reduced rate at which new bitcoins are generated, increasing scarcity.

Standard Chartered notes that Bitcoin’s dominance in the digital assets market remains strong. Since April, Bitcoin’s share of the overall digital assets market cap has increased to 50% from 45%. The bank attributes this dominance to Bitcoin’s status as a branded safe haven, which has been beneficial for its market position.

According to a report by CNBC, last month, AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (AB), also known as Bernstein, a global asset management firm, released a bullish forecast for Bitcoin, predicting that its price could reach $150,000 by 2025. This optimistic outlook is based on the expectation that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will approve a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in early 2024.

Bernstein’s estimate represents a significant increase from Bitcoin’s current price of around $38,000 and more than doubles its all-time high of over $67,000 set in November 2021. The firm believes that an SEC-approved spot Bitcoin ETF would pave the way for traditional investors to gain direct exposure to Bitcoin through their portfolios, potentially driving up demand and pushing prices higher.

Gautam Chhugani, an analyst at Bernstein, highlighted the importance of timing in the SEC’s decision. He emphasized that even if one may not personally favor Bitcoin, viewing it objectively as a commodity suggests that the regulatory landscape is favorable for a spot Bitcoin ETF approval. Chhugani’s comments were part of a broader analysis where he also initiated coverage on several Bitcoin mining companies.

The note also mentioned the upcoming Bitcoin halving event scheduled for April 2024. During this event, the rewards for Bitcoin mining are halved, a feature programmed into Bitcoin’s underlying code. Chhugani believes that this halving will likely lead to the elimination of less successful miners, thereby consolidating the market share of those who remain.

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