The bank anticipates a ‘price drop in the coming months’ before a recovery for the remainder of the year.
With increasing pressure in the cryptocurrency market, Standard Chartered revised its bitcoin prediction on Thursday, indicating a potential decline to US$50,000 before the leading digital currency becomes stable.
The cryptocurrency was valued at approximately US$66,300 at 1pm Hong Kong time on Friday, representing a drop of almost 50 per cent from its all-time high of US$126,000 in October. Ether decreased marginally to US$1,940 at 1pm on Friday. The second-largest digital token has fallen by 60 per cent from its peak of US$4,900 in August.
The present gloomy mood stands in contrast to the positive momentum seen toward the end of last year, which was partly driven by hopes for a more favorable approach to cryptocurrencies from the Trump administration.
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Geoffrey Kendrick, the global head of digital assets research at Standard Chartered, stated that bitcoin might drop to as low as $50,000 during the present downturn before recovering, while Ether could reach a low of approximately $1,400.
We anticipate more price declines in the coming months,” Kendrick stated. “After those lows are achieved, we foresee a price rebound for the remainder of the year.
Standard Chartered reduced its bitcoin prediction to $100,000 by the end of 2026, a decrease from $150,000 and an earlier estimate of $300,000 from three months prior.
The cryptocurrency market is experiencing a tough macroeconomic climate as the US economy shows signs of slowing, leading to expected limited investment in crypto assets, as noted by Standard Chartered.
The pessimistic market conditions have also affected the performance of cryptocurrency platforms. Coinbase, a US-based digital currency exchange, has had its projected price lowered by Jefferies to US$151 from US$268, following a failure to meet its earnings target on Thursday.
Coinbase disclosed a 20 percent drop in revenue compared to the previous year for the fourth quarter, resulting in a net loss of more than US$667 million, whereas it had recorded a profit of US$1.3 billion during the same period in the prior year.
In a letter to shareholders on Thursday, the company stated, ‘Cryptocurrency is cyclical, and experience shows it’s never as good or as bad as it appears.’
Although asset values may fluctuate, beneath the surface, a steady flow of technological advancement and cryptocurrency product usage persists.
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This piece was first published in the South China Morning Post (www.scmp.com), a top news outlet covering China and Asia.
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