Institution predicting Bitcoin's trajectory in 2024 waves the flag again: Q2 breaks $120,000, reaching $200,000 by year-end

Standard Chartered, which is bullish on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency assets in the long term, predicted on Monday that the price of Bitcoin (BTC-USD) could break the $120,000 mark in the second quarter, setting a new historical high and significantly boosting bullish sentiment in the crypto space.

The core logic behind Standard Chartered's continued support for the Bitcoin bull market is the substantial deterioration of confidence in holding dollar assets, as global funds are widely reconfiguring from dollar-denominated assets to other currency assets, along with several technical indicators signaling bullish momentum for Bitcoin.

It is worth noting that Standard Chartered has accurately predicted the unprecedented bull market trajectory for Bitcoin in 2024, having long bet last year that the price of Bitcoin would break the $100,000 barrier by the end of 2024. Bitcoin ultimately exceeded $100,000 in December, setting a new historical high.

This bullish target from Standard Chartered suggests a potential upside of about 25% compared to the current Bitcoin price. The bank also forecasts that by the end of 2025, the price of Bitcoin will leap to the historical level of $200,000, implying that the Bitcoin price is expected to rise about 65% from the Q2 target by the end of this year, and is a full 110% higher than current levels.

Geoff Kendrick, an analyst at Standard Chartered who accurately predicted Bitcoin would break the $100,000 mark in 2024, wrote in a recent report to clients that a significant driving force behind the bullish sentiment comes from the U.S. Treasury term premium (UST term premium)—a metric closely related to Bitcoin's movements—currently at its highest level in 12 years. The term premium typically refers to the extra yield that investors require for holding long-term U.S. Treasury bonds compared to short-term bonds.

This long-term bullish analyst also pointed out that the “whales” in the crypto space (i.e., large holders) are significantly increasing their Bitcoin holdings. Earlier, the largest corporate Bitcoin holder, MicroStrategy (now known as Strategy, founded by Michael Saylor), disclosed another week of Bitcoin accumulation.