Standard Chartered says Bitcoin will reach $200,000 and Ethereum $10,000 this year.

After a year in which Bitcoin crossed the six-figure mark, investors would be right to expect a calm period.

Fat chance.

Bitcoin rose Thursday afternoon UK time and is now up more than 13% this year and closing again at an all-time high north of $108,000.

While this might be relatively easy for Bitcoin these days, Jeff Kendrick, global head of digital asset research at Standard Chartered Bank in the UK, recommended investors buy.

The reason: The Trump administration promised to roll out cryptocurrency-friendly policies next year.

ETF flows

When that happens, more institutional investors will pile in, Kendrick wrote in a report on Wednesday.

“The dominance of institutional flows in ETFs is likely to support the performance of Bitcoin and Ethereum,” he wrote, predicting prices to reach $200,000 and $10,000, respectively, by the end of the year.

However, the cryptocurrency market may see a dip or two in the short term. With Trump yet to enact any cryptocurrency policies, investors lack a new narrative to spur bullish optimism in the market.

“The US labor market is doing better than expected, which is bad for Bitcoin in the short term because it takes pressure off the Fed to cut interest rates,” said Ed Hendy, chief investment officer at cryptocurrency hedge fund Tyr Capital. DL News.

An Indian forecast that Bitcoin will reach $250,000 this year, but investors should not expect an immediate rally.

The Fed meets

Analysts at 10x Research say Bitcoin is tracking Three important dates for Bitcoin – The release of CPI data, Trump’s inauguration, and the upcoming meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, the powerful central bank body that sets monetary policy.

The first two dates have passed. The Federal Reserve will meet on January 29 to decide on interest rate cuts, which are bullish signals for high-risk assets like stocks and cryptocurrencies.

Despite expectations of multiple interest rate cuts to manage inflation, the Fed signaled a change of course in December. The upcoming Federal Open Market Committee is not expected to cut interest rates, according to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange FedWatch tool.

Federal Reserve Fund futures traders are betting that the Federal Reserve will not announce any interest rate cuts until at least July.

“An exciting year for cryptocurrencies”

Despite the lack of momentum for Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, market watchers say 2025 will be an important year.

“The market is keenly watching progress, not only in terms of regulatory clarity but also on how this will be implemented [Trump] Seamus Rocca, CEO of legacy bitcoin bank Xapo Bank, said management may view bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset. DL News.

Like Rocca, many other analysts say a lot depends on Trump’s approach to the sector.

“Trump will turn some of his crypto rhetoric into action during his first 90 days in office, and that should send prices higher,” Hindi said.

“Creating a strategic bitcoin reserve in the US would be one of them [and] Other countries will be forced to follow suit, thus creating a virtuous cycle of price action.

Crypto market drivers

• Bitcoin rose 1.3% over the past 24 hours to $105,975.
• The price of Ethereum fell slightly during the same period to $3,274.

What we read

Osatu Afan Nomayo He is our DeFi correspondent based in Nigeria. It covers DeFi and technology. Got a tip? Please contact him at osato@dlnews.com.