LONDON, April 24 (Reuters) – Prime cryptocurrency bitcoin may attain $100,000 by the top of 2024, Normal Chartered (STAN.L) mentioned on Monday, saying that the so-called “crypto winter” is over.
Bitcoin may achieve from elements together with latest turmoil within the banking sector, a stabilisation of danger property because the U.S. Federal Reserve ends its curiosity rate-hiking cycle and improved profitability of crypto mining, Normal Chartered’s head of digital property analysis Geoff Kendrick mentioned in a be aware.
“Whereas sources of uncertainty stay, we predict the pathway to the USD 100,000 degree is changing into clearer,” Kendrick wrote.
Bitcoin has rallied to this point this yr, rising above $30,000 in April for the primary time in ten months. Its positive factors characterize a partial restoration after trillions of {dollars} had been wiped from the crypto sector in 2022, as central banks hiked charges and a string of crypto corporations imploded.
Predictions of sky-high valuations have been commonplace throughout bitcoin’s previous rallies. A Citi analyst mentioned in November 2020 that bitcoin may climb as excessive as $318,000 by the top of 2022. It closed final yr down about 65% at $16,500.
In Monday’s be aware, Normal Chartered mentioned that bitcoin has benefited from its standing as a “branded secure haven, a perceived relative retailer of worth and a way of remittance.”
Kendrick mentioned the European Parliament’s backing of the European Union’s first algorithm to control crypto asset markets “ought to present a tailwind” for bitcoin.
JPMorgan mentioned in a be aware on April 5 {that a} technical change to the bitcoin blockchain in April 2024, referred to as its “halving”, may enhance its value by making it dearer to supply, inflicting a “optimistic psychological impact”.
JPMorgan mentioned that cryptocurrency costs have already benefited from crypto lovers deciphering the latest U.S. banking disaster as a “vindication of the crypto ecosystem”. Crypto supporters say stablecoins are “much less prone to runs”, JPMorgan mentioned.
U.S. regulators have beforehand advised banks to be alert for liquidity dangers coming from crypto-related deposits, akin to stablecoin reserves, which could possibly be topic to fast outflows.
Reporting by Elizabeth Howcroft; enhancing by Tom Wilson, Louise Heavens and Jonathan Oatis
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