Standard Chartered Remains Bullish on Crypto as Ether ETF Approval Delays are ‘Priced in’

People looking to invest in Ethereum (ETH), the second largest cryptocurrency, through exchange-traded funds (ETFs), might have to be patient for longer than expected. However, despite this setback, Standard Chartered, a well-known investment bank, remains optimistic about the future of the crypto market.

According to a report from CoinDesk, the bank has changed its anticipated schedule for the United States’ authorization of Ether ETFs, which was initially projected for May. However, prediction markets such as Polymarket estimate that there is only a 14% likelihood of this approval occurring by the end of next month. Despite the SEC’s approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs in January this year.

Geoff Kendrick, an analyst at Standard Chartered, had earlier anticipated a May 23 debut for Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs). However, he has now pointed out several hurdles affecting the cryptocurrency market. These include:

The combination of various elements has lowered the pace of Ethereum being adopted into common financial services. Nevertheless, Standard Chartered continues to believe in the future growth of digital currencies.

The bank stated that it thinks the current slump is only a short-term issue, assuming that any negative news regarding Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) has already been factored in. However, they anticipate “constructive underlying factors” will eventually regain control.

Standard Chartered maintains its optimistic outlook, keeping steady with its end-of-year predictions: a Bitcoin price of $150,000 and an Ethereum price of $8,000. By 2025, the bank foresees Ethereum reaching $14,000. At present, Bitcoin is priced at around $66,600 on CryptoCompare, and Ethereum hovers near $3,280.

The report brought attention to considerable shifts in the market as well. Notably, this included the biggest single-day unwinding of Bitcoin futures contracts with leveraged long positions since late October 2023. This sudden change was caused by geopolitical concerns that arose in mid-April, resulting in a $261 million reduction in market value.

According to a report from CryptoGlobe, the bank estimates that Bitcoin could be worth between $200,000 and $400,000 by the end of 2025. This prediction is based on the assumption that between 437,000 and 1.32 million new Bitcoins will be held in U.S. ETFs by the end of 2024. This would result in an influx of roughly $50-100 billion into these funds.

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2024-04-25 02:37