Standard Chartered Predicts $200K Bitcoin by 2025 with ETF Approval

The bank made the forecast based on its expectation that spot Bitcoin ETFs could see inflows between $50-100 billion next year. Multinational bank Standard Chartered forecasts that Bitcoin (BTC) could reach nearly $200,000 by the end of next year should Bitcoin exchange-traded funds gain approval and prove successful in the United States.

On this basis, the bank has pegged the price prediction on the assumption that 437,000 and 1.32 million BTC will be held in United States-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs by the end of 2024. The firm estimates these to equate between $50-100 billion in inflows.

“If ETF-related inflows materialize as we expect, we think an end-2025 level closer to USD 200,000 is possible,” said Standard Chartered head of digital assets Geoff Kendrick and precious metals analyst Suki Cooper in a Jan. 8 report shared on X (formerly Twitter).

Standard Chartered posting some moon math! $200,000 coming pic.twitter.com/IQueMhjgiP

— Lark Davis (@TheCryptoLark) January 9, 2024

Bitcoin’s $200K Prediction & Strengthened Network Fundamentals

Kendrick and Cooper’s $200,000 prediction means that BTC must increase 4.3 times from its current price of $47,000. However, Standard Chartered executives assert that the value of gold exchange-traded products multiplied 4.3 times. This occurred within seven to eight years after the inception of gold ETPs in November 2004.

“We anticipate price appreciation for Bitcoin on a similar scale resulting from US spot ETF approval, but expect such appreciation to be drawn out over a shorter (one- to two-year) time horizon due to our expectation that the market for BTC ETFs will develop more swiftly.”

Kendrick and Cooper said that they view the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs as a “watershed” in normalizing public participation in Bitcoin. The banking executives emphasized that their latest BTC price prediction is aligned with the bank’s recent forecast. They anticipate Bitcoin to reach $100,000 by the end of the year 2024.

Furthermore, Much investor focus has centred on spot Bitcoin ETFs. However, one industry pundit emphasized the importance of considering Bitcoin’s strengthened network “fundamentals” when evaluating its price.

Bitcoin network fundamentals are at an all-time high. According to pragmatic Blockchain Research blockchain strategist Jamie Coutts, Bitcoin’s fundamentals are currently high. This observation is based on a logarithmic “Bitcoin Network Activity” graph related to “Bitcoin Price,” which Coutts shared from blockchain analytics firm CryptoQuant.com on Jan. 8.

“Bitcoin’s network fundamentals appear the strongest since the 2016-2017 cycle, with novel use cases like inscriptions,” said Coutts, formerly a cryptocurrency market analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.

“Yet $BTC is still 40% below its peak,” Coutts said. “Undervalued.”

According to CT and the media, the only reason #Bitcoin is up 150% in the past year is because of pre-ETF launch positioning. But do the fundamentals support current prices?

To gauge the 'fundamentals', we can look at various components of Bitcoin network activity. This custom… pic.twitter.com/6hFuBHH5LK

— Jamie Coutts CMT (@Jamie1Coutts) January 8, 2024

Bitcoin’s Future: Caution Amidst ETF Speculation

Bloomberg Intelligence senior macroeconomic strategist Mike McGlone expressed confidence in BTC sustaining its rally. This came after the potential approval of Bitcoin ETFs.

“Risk assets need to retreat. It’s almost always — that’s what’s missing. During a Macro Monday talk on Jan. 8, McGlone asserted that Bitcoin carries significant risk.

And, of course, we’ve had the hopium. We’ve rallied 50% from $30 [thousand]. We’ve rallied 3x from last year [.] You don’t want to be getting overweight here. You want to be saying thank you.”

“This is the week. If they rug pull, that’s no good. If they launch, well, the lessons have been those haven’t been good, and is there a lot of hype and bullishness? Yeah, as much as I’ve seen in other peaks,” he added.

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