Bitcoin (BTC) has experienced major declines in the last two months and has been trading within a narrow range in recent days.
Before October, Bitcoin was expected to reach $150,000 or more by the end of the year, but as the year-end approached, predictions began to decline one by one.
At this point, British banking giant Standard Chartered also significantly lowered its multi-year price targets for Bitcoin.
According to Decyrpt, Geoff Kendrick, head of digital asset research at Standard Chartered, explained that the pullback in his forecasts was not due to structural weakness in Bitcoin, but rather to recent reduced buying.
Kendrick noted that recent institutional buying is entering its final phase, making further purchases into Bitcoin unlikely.
At this point, Kendrick stated that Bitcoin's upward momentum will depend more on ETF inflows from now on.
“It's difficult to expect DAT companies, which supported previous demand for Bitcoin, to make additional Bitcoin purchases. DATs are unlikely to engage in large-scale sell-offs, but they will no longer support the market with additional purchases.
Therefore, the only force that will support the BTC price in the coming period will be ETFs.”
Bitcoin Revised Its Predictions!
Kendrick stated that for these reasons, Standard Chartered has updated its 2025-2030 year-end price forecasts.
At this point, the analyst stated that Bitcoin's time to reach its long-term target of $500,000 has been postponed from 2028 to 2030. Standard Chartered also lowered its 2025 year-end Bitcoin price forecast to $100,000 from the previous $200,000 target.
Under the revised new timeline, Standard Chartered forecast $100,000 for year-end 2025, $150,000 for year-end 2026, $225,000 for year-end 2027, $300,000 for year-end 2028, $400,000 for year-end 2029 and finally $500,000 for year-end 2030.
Recently, major bull Tom Lee revised his Bitcoin forecast. Lee backed off his year-end prediction of $250,000 for BTC, saying that Bitcoin is likely to surpass $100,000 by the end of the year and that a new ATH is also possible.
Crypto Winters Are Over!
Kendrick recently addressed the crypto winter/bear narrative and argued that the halving cycle is no longer valid.
“Bitcoin’s last peak (October 6) occurred approximately 18 months after the April 2024 halving. This raises concerns of a ‘crypto winter,’ but we no longer believe the halving cycle dominates prices.
This time is truly different. We believe crypto winters are a thing of the past. In the medium to long term, ETF-based long-term demand will reorganize the market.”
*This is not investment advice.
