Bitcoin could reach $250,000 next year, according to Standard Chartered.
In a report released yesterday, the bank, one of the world’s largest, said the digital currency was on track to reach $150,000 by the end of this year.
Standard Chartered analysts Geoff Kendrick and Suki Cooper, based in London and New York respectively, said the amount could then reach $250,000 “at some point in 2025”, before ending the year at $200,000. dollars.
The report comes days after bitcoin hit a record high of $73,803 before retreating. Last night it was trading at around $68,000.
An increase to $250,000 would be welcomed by crypto enthusiasts as well as the estimated 5 million UK investors who own digital coins.
Moonshot: Standard Chartered, one of the world’s largest banks, said Bitcoin is on track to reach $150,000 by the end of this year.
However, this is far from guaranteed, and regulators continue to warn that anyone who buys a cryptocurrency such as bitcoin could lose everything.
Michael Hartnett, Bank of America’s chief investment strategist, warned last week that markets were exhibiting “the characteristics of a bubble.”
Bitcoin reached a previous high of nearly $69,000 in late 2021, but fell below $16,000 a year later.
It has rallied sharply in recent months, supported by hopes that central banks will begin cutting interest rates around the world in the coming months as well as a significant regulatory breakthrough in the United States.
In January, the US watchdog, the Securities and Exchange Commission, approved 11 so-called “exchange-traded funds” (ETFs) tied to the price of bitcoin, bringing crypto into mainstream finance.
The Standard Chartered report noted that money has flowed into these ETFs since their launch, driving up the price of Bitcoin.
The report said a price of $250,000 would be likely next year “if ETF inflows continue at a healthy pace.” He added: “Bitcoin’s recent price trajectory has resembled a moonshot.
“The question we are constantly asked is: what now? $200,000 seems to be the correct level for the end of 2025, but a surge to the $250,000 level seems feasible.
“For 2024, given the larger than expected price increases since the start of the year, we now see the potential for the bitcoin price to reach the $150,000 level by the end of the year, up from our previous estimate of $100,000.”
