Bitcoin loves Donald Trump.
The world’s leading cryptocurrency hit an all-time high as the Republican presidential candidate’s victory in the US election became a certainty on Wednesday morning.
Bitcoin’s surge past $75,000 is just the beginning, according to UK bank Standard Chartered’s analysts.
The top cryptocurrency will hit $125,000 by the end of this year and $200,000 by the end of 2025, Geoff Kendrick, Global Head of Digital Assets Research at Standard Chartered, said during a Wednesday briefing.
The prediction echoes estimates made earlier this month by analysts at research and brokerage firm Bernstein. Standard Chartered made a similar prediction in October.
Kendrick argued that Trump’s many pro-crypto pledges — such as firing the Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler, creating a national strategic Bitcoin reserve, and remaking the US into a “Bitcoin superpower” — will drive the rally.
“We’ve gone from [President Joe] Biden who was proactively negative about the industry, to Trump, who is proactively positive,” Kendrick said.
What’s next?
Looking at Bitcoin options trades, Standard Chartered saw a lot of investor interest around the $80,000 mark, suggesting that the cryptocurrency will hit that level in “the next one or two weeks,” Kendrick said.
On the regulatory side, Kendrick said he expects Trump to overturn Biden’s veto of SAB 121, a controversial SEC accounting guidance which critics say has deterred investment banks from offering crypto custody at scale.
“I’d say that gets done quite quickly after Trump takes office on January 20,” Kendrick said, arguing that the move will fuel more institutional adoption of crypto.
The second Trump administration will also likely introduce new stablecoin rules, which will help expand the market “dramatically,” Kendrick added.
A US stablecoin law to rival the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets rules has been left in a legislative limbo, but Trump’s win could get things moving again.
The Republican presidential elect’s financial policies are likely to stoke inflation, Kendrick argued. That will, in turn, be a net positive for assets like Bitcoin that are used as a “hedge against issues in the traditional financial system.”
Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds are another factor likely to drive the price of Bitcoin past the $200,000 mark in the next year, the Standard Chartered analyst said.
Since launching in January, spot Bitcoin ETFs have enjoyed net inflows of almost $24 billion, or about 315,100 Bitcoin, according to SoSoValue.
Over the next year, those funds will likely increase that figure to over 400,000 Bitcoin, which will pump the price even more, Kendrick said.
Eric Johansson is DL News’ News Editor. Got a tip? Email at eric@dlnews.com.
