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Bitcoin should only reach half of the level that Standard Chartered previously expected for the flagship digital currency in 2026. The cryptocurrency should now hit $150,000 in 2026, down from the earlier $300,000 target set by the firm. Still, the new target reflects upside of more than 65% compared with Monday’s closing level. Standard Chartered also lowered outlooks through 2029. Geoff Kendrick, the firm’s global head of digital assets research, said he now expects the $500,000 level to be met in 2030, two years later than previously forecast. Kendrick said the current drawdown in bitcoin is “normal” in scale compared with previous periods since ETFs tied to the cryptocurrency began trading . But he said that valuations don’t support more corporate buying, leaving only funds to drive near-term gains in price performance. “We now think future Bitcoin price increases will effectively be driven by one leg only – ETF buying,” Kendrick wrote in a Tuesday note to clients. “We therefore lower our year-end price forecasts.” BTC.CM= YTD mountain Bitcoin, year to date Kendrick said the long-term $500,000 target is still reachable as portfolio optimizations show global portfolios are underweight bitcoin. While investment committees can take a while to make decisions about allocations, these moves will help push bitcoin higher down the road, Kendrick said. He added, investors should think of this period not as a “crypto winter” but as “just a cold breeze.”