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Standard Chartered has significantly tempered its bullish price projections for Bitcoin over the next five years.
“I still see Bitcoin continuing to print fresh all-time highs going forward, but I think the pace will be slower than previously expected,” Standard Chartered Global Head of Digital Assets Research Geoffrey Kendrick said in an email last week.
Kendrick said in a Dec. 9 note that Standard Chartered was forced to reassess its price targets amid Bitcoin’s recent price action. The asset has fallen as much as 36% from a record price of about $126,000 reached in October to about $80,000 in a drawdown sparked by U.S. tariff threats on China and drying liquidity.
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Kendrick said in the note that the drawdown was “normal,” citing two similar corrections since the Securities and Exchange Commission approved trading of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in January 2024. However, the correction means Standard Chartered’s previous near-term targets are wrong, he said.
Standard Chartered now sees Bitcoin finishing this year at $100,000, down from its previous prediction of $200,000. For 2026, it now sees Bitcoin finishing the year at $150,000, down 50% from $300,000 earlier.
Meanwhile, the firm has dropped its 2027 target from $400,000 to $225,000 and its 2028 target from $500,000 to $300,000. In 2029, its target is also no longer $500,000 but $400,000.
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Standard Chartered is predicting a slower pace of Bitcoin growth, as it no longer expects purchases from digital asset treasury companies. These companies were able to accumulate Bitcoin without diluting shareholders by trading at a premium to their underlying holdings. Now, as valuations shrink, Kendrick said he expects to see these companies consolidate.
With treasury companies out of the equation, Kendrick said in the note that the primary Bitcoin price driver left is ETF flows. He added that the Bitcoin ETF market would likely take several years to mature as investor access broadens and investment committees make up their mind.
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Meanwhile, Standard Chartered rejected any suggestion that Bitcoin is at the beginning of an extended correction in line with its historical four-year cycle. The cycle has seen the asset experience a boom and bust once every four years, correlating with the so-called “halvening.” The halvening refers to a programmed event that halves the new Bitcoin supply roughly every four years.
“This time is really different,” Kendrick said, suggesting that ETF buying would be able to support the asset’s price.
Bitcoin was most recently trading at $87,000.
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This article ‘The Pace Will Be Slower Than Expected’: Standard Chartered Lowers Bitcoin Price Forecasts originally appeared on Benzinga.com
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