KEY POINTS
- Standard Chartered analysts said they now 'see potential' for BTC prices to hit $150K at the end of the year
- The bank said it's possible Bitcoin can hit $250K in 2025 if spot BTC ETF inflows reach mid-point estimates of $75 billion
- Standard Chartered also said it sees Ether soaring to $8,000 if spot ETH ETFs are approved in May
British cross-border bank Standard Chartered on Monday hiked its year-end Bitcoin (BTC) price prediction to $150,000 from its initial projection of $100,000 following the recent bull run of the world's first decentralized cryptocurrency.
The London-based banking giant's analysts, led by Geoffrey Kendrick, wrote in a report that this year, "given the sharper-than-expected price gains year-to-date, we now see potential for the Bitcoin price to reach the $150,000 level by year-end," as per multiple outlets.
The bank further noted that if spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) inflows reach the bank's mid-point estimate of $75 billion or if they start seeing BTC purchases among forex reserve managers, it sees a strong possibility for the cryptocurrency to hit $250,000 sometime next year.
Bitcoin is currently at $68,000 after it hit its all-time high of $73,000 earlier this month.
While BTC has slumped from its significant spike in the past few weeks, companies such as business intelligence firm MicroStrategy continue to amass Bitcoin troves.
The Michael Saylor-founded firm, which recently announced it was transitioning to a "Bitcoin development company," has been moving to obtain more Bitcoins, offering up $600 million worth of convertible senior notes earlier this month and then offering another $500 in convertible notes just last week, saying it intends to snap up more Bitcoin.
Aside from a bullish prediction on Bitcoin, Standard Chartered also had optimistic views of Ether (ETH) prices, saying ETH could skyrocket to $8,000 at the end of the year and possibly reach $14,000 in 2025, that is if the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approves spot ETH ETFs in May. Ether is at $3,400 as of Sunday night, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
The SEC junked an initial March 10 decision regarding the spot Ether ETF application of asset management behemoth BlackRock and the application of investment firm Fidelity. The financial regulator said earlier this month that it needed more time to decide on the matter and asked "interested persons to provide comments" on the applications.
One key question that the SEC wants public opinion on is: "What are commenters' views on whether the proposed Trust and Shares would be susceptible to manipulation?"
There have been reports that the regulator is a "hard no" on Ethereum ETFs as there is "internal resistance to the idea." Still, a recently approved spot BTC ETF issuer has reportedly expressed confidence that the SEC will also approve spot ETH ETFs sometime at the end of summer.
