Bitcoin's ( BTC-USD ) price could reach the $100K mark by the end of 2024, Standard Chartered said in a report published Monday, "as we believe the much-touted ‘crypto winter’ is finally over.” Although BTC is up 64% since the start of 2023, it has declined sharply since surpassing $30K a couple weeks ago, for the first time in nearly a year. It changed hands at $27.35K as of shortly before 1:00 p.m. ET. Nonetheless, the potential climb to $100K could be driven by the recent banking turmoil, which "has helped to re-establish BTC’s core use case as a decentralised, trustless and scarce digital asset," analyst Geoff Kendrick explained. Another positive driver includes a "gradually improving" macroeconomic backdrop for risky/alternative assets as the end of the Federal Reserve's tightening cycle nears. "While BTC can trade well when risky assets suffer, correlations to the Nasdaq suggest that it should trade better if risky assets improve broadly," he added. Looking to the long-term, bitcoin's ( BTC-USD ) next halving -- the mechanism whereby the reward for mining a new block on the blockchain is cut in half after every 210,000 blocks produced -- could also be a boon for its price, the report said. The event, which is part of the process of capping BTC's supply at 21 million coins, is due around April 2024. “As we approach the next halving, we expect cyclical drivers to become more constructive, as they have in previous cycles.” “Given these advantages, we think BTC’s share of total digital assets market cap could move into the 50-60% range in the next few months (from around 45% currently),” Kendrick contended. Standard Chartered is not alone in predicting a robust upswing. Last week, Mercuryo Chief Product Officer called for a $35K price tag by the end of Q2 so long as its year-to-date trend of higher lows are sustained. On the other side of the fence, Seeking Alpha contributor David Huston sees more pain ahead, as the token last week dropped below its 23-day moving average. Should bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) see as much upside as Standard Chartered is calling for, keep an eye on these publicly-traded bitcoin miners, the profitability and stock price of which depend greatly on the token's price: Riot Platforms ( RIOT ), Marathon Digital ( MARA ), HIVE Blockchain ( HIVE ), Hut 8 Mining ( HUT ), Bitfarms ( BITF ), Bit Digital ( BTBT ), CleanSpark ( CLSK ), Greenidge Generation ( GREE ) and Core Scientific ( OTCPK:CORZQ ). More on bitcoin It's Been A Bad Week For Bitcoin Crypto funds break six-week inflow streak amid profit taking - report Bitcoin: Highway To The Danger Zone
