Crypto winter is finally over and bitcoin (BTC), the world’s largest cryptocurrency, has the potential to reach $100,000 by year end, according to a research report by Standard Chartered Bank.
The climb to $100,000 could be driven by a number of factors, including the recent banking-sector crisis that helped to “re-establish bitcoin’s use as a decentralized scarce digital asset,” the bank said in the report on Monday.
“Against this backdrop, bitcoin has benefited from its status as a branded safe haven, a perceived relative store of value and a means of remittance,” analyst Geoff Kendrick wrote. Bitcoin has gained 65% since the start of the year. It rose above $30,000 last week for the first time in almost a year. It was recently trading at $27,328, down 1.2% in the past 24 hours.
The report also noted one of the drivers for the price to reach $100,00 is the broader macro backdrop for risky assets gradually improving as the Federal Reserve nears the end of its tightening cycle. “While BTC can trade well when risky assets suffer, correlations to the Nasdaq suggest that it should trade better if risky assets improve broadly,” Kendrick said.
Standard Chartered expects bitcoin’s share of the entire crypto market capitalization to rise back to the 50-60% range. The bitcoin dominance rate is now around 47%, according to data from TradingView. It was around 40% during the fallout of Silicon Valley Bank in mid-March.
Bitcoin’s upcoming halving – the process whereby the rewards for mining a new block gets halved every four years – is also poised to be a positive driver for bitcoin, Kendrick wrote. “As we approach the next halving, we expect cyclical drivers to become more constructive, as they have in previous cycles,” he said.
