Standard Chartered Sets Target Price of $120,000 for Bitcoin
The price of the world’s largest cryptocurrency Bitcoin could round the $50,000 mark by the end of this year, banking group Standard Chartered estimated. In a rather bullish estimate, Stanchart predicts Bitcoin price could hit $120,000.
The so-called crypto winter is done, Standard Chartered thinks. The banking group has come out with increasingly optimistic predictions in recent months. Back in April, Standard Chartered predicted that the price of Bitcoin will round the $100,000 mark by the end of next year. That prediction is now being revised upward by 20 percent.
By the end of this year, the cryptocurrency could be worth $50,000, the group believes.
There are a number of reasons for this. Among other things, Bitcoin could benefit from turmoil in the U.S. banking sector. Also, an end is beginning to be in sight for the numerous interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, the U.S. central bank. Standard Chartered also says it’s starting to get back more profitable.
Finally, there is the Bitcoin halving. That process occurs every four years and halves Bitcoin miners’ reward. This permanently tightens the number of Bitcoins that can be generated. Historically, halving has always caused violent price increases. The next halving will take place in April 2024.
Bitcoin price only partially recovered. In recent months, the world’s largest cryptocurrency has been making a comeback after its price imploded last year. Early this year, a Bitcoin was worth only about $16,500, down from more than $65,000 during its peak in November 2021. Today, the price is hovering back around $30,000.
One of the main reasons: last month, the largest asset manager on Earth, BlackRock, filed an application. Exchange Traded Fund works in much the same way as an index tracker.
It is a passively managed mutual fund traded on an exchange. Such an ETF usually follows the underlying stock price. A Bitcoin ETF would be based on the price of the world’s largest cryptocurrency.
This is the first time in the U.S. that it is a spot ETF that tracks the price of Bitcoin, not a futures ETF, a product that has been offered by several asset managers for several years. A futures ETF tracks the price of certain derivatives of an asset, while a spot ETF tracks the cash market price.
Other asset managers now also want to launch an ETF that tracks the price of Bitcoin. These include Fidelity, Invesco, Valkyrie and Wisdom Tree. All of them have already filed applications with the U.S. stock market watchdog, the SEC. #Standard Chartered Sets Target Price of $120,000 for Bitcoin FBNH Rises to N682bn on ‘Special Stock Bet’
