Crypto Winter is Over, BTC Will Reach $100,000 by 2024: Standard Chartered
The US Federal Reserve is close to ending its aggressive rate hike cycle, a move that could push Bitcoin to $100,000 by the end of this year, analysts at Standard Chartered wrote in a note on Monday. But such bold predictions should be taken with a grain of salt, given that many didn’t even come close to materializing in the past.
End of interest rate hikes could drive crypto prices, says Standard Chartered
Analysts at Standard Chartered said in a note on Monday that Bitcoin could surpass $100,000 by 2024 as the crypto winter is now over. The analysts wrote that the world’s largest cryptocurrency could capitalize on several factors, including risks in the banking sector highlighted by the recent turmoil, the end of the Federal Reserve’s tightening cycle and improved profitability of crypto mining.
“While there are still sources of uncertainty, we believe the path to the $100,000 level is becoming clearer.”
– said Geoff Kendrick, Head of Digital Assets Research at Standard Chartered.
The bank’s predictions come just weeks after Bitcoin breached the $30,000 threshold for the first time in June 2022, marking a strong rebound for the cryptocurrency this year after a disastrous 2022 that wiped out the prices of risk assets. The so-called crypto winter was triggered by several factors, including a series of interest rate hikes by global central banks to curb 41-year high inflation, numerous industry collapses and geopolitical tensions.
But now the Federal Reserve and other central banks are nearing the peak or already finished their rate hike cycle, resulting in a much more optimistic outlook for risk assets like stocks and cryptocurrencies. Officials at the US Federal Reserve expect interest rates to reach 5.1% this year, implying only a further 25 basis point (bps) increase from the current benchmark of 4.75% to 5%.
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Another bold crypto price prediction
However, this is not the first time that analysts have made a bold prediction about crypto prices during a rally, and most fell short of expectations. In 2017, anti-virus software pioneer John McAfee predicted that Bitcoin would reach $1 million by the end of 2020. The actual price of Bitcoin at the end of 2020 was below $30,000.
Similarly, analysts at Citi said in November 2020 that Bitcoin could soar to $318,000 by the end of 2022. The cryptocurrency ended the year around $16,500.
Earlier this month, crypto research firm K33 Research said that Bitcoin could reach $45,000 by May, suggesting that the crypto token will see its price increase by more than 65% in the coming days.
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Do you think Standard Chartered’s predictions can be realized when the Fed stops raising interest rates? Let us know in the comments below.
About the author
Tim Fries is the co-founder of The Tokenist. He has a B. Sc. in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan, and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Tim served as a Senior Associate in the investment team at RW Baird’s US Private Equity division and is also a co-founder of Protective Technologies Capital, an investment firm specializing in sensing, protection and control solutions.
