Bitcoin
Standard Chartered has predicted robust growth in the value of Bitcoin in 2023 and 2024. In 2023, Bitcoin can surge to $50,000 in 2023 while in 2024, Bitcoin’s value will double, to over $100,000.
According to Standard Chartered, Bitcoin has gained 80 percent value since the start of the calendar year 2023. In January this year, Bitcoin’s value was hovering around $23,000, and by July 10, 2023, Bitcoin surged to above $30K amid multiple developments.
The recent surge in Bitcoin’s price could encourage Bitcoin “miners” to hoard more of the supply.
Earlier, Standard Chartered published a $100,000 end-2024 forecast for Bitcoin back in April on the view the so-called “crypto winter” was over.
However, Geoff Kendrick, one of the bank’s leading analysts, claimed there was now a 20 percent “upside” to that call.
“Increased miner profitability per BTC (bitcoin) mined means they can sell less while maintaining cash inflows. It will reduce net BTC supply pushing BTC prices higher,” Kendrick said in a report.
Bitcoin’s price has surged 80% since the start of 2023 but its current level of just over $30,200 is still less than half the $69,000 it peaked back in November 2021.
In 2022, trillions of dollars were wiped out of the crypto sector as central banks hiked rates while a string of crypto exchanges, including FTX exchange imploded. This year’s collapse of several traditional-style banks though has fed the rebound.
Standard Chartered said the rationale for its prediction was that miners who mint the 900 new bitcoins produced each day across the world would soon need to sell fewer to cover their costs.
Kendrick estimated that miners have recently been selling 100% of their new coins. If the price hits $50,000 though, they would probably only sell 20-30%.
“It is the equivalent of miners reducing the number of bitcoins they sell per day to just 180-270 from 900 currently.”
“Over a year, that would reduce miner selling from 328,500 to a range of 65,700-98,550 – a reduction in net BTC supply of roughly 250,000 bitcoins a year.”
Next April or May the total number of bitcoins able to be mined each day is also set to half due to an inbuilt supply and issuance mechanism that gradually limits supply to maintain its appeal.
