Standard Chartered said in a research report that Bitcoin could rise $50,000 this year and $120,000 by the end of 2024. The British multinational bank also forecast in April a $100,000 increase in the bitcoin price, according to a Reuters report. One of the bank’s top Fx analysts Geoff Kendrick said there was now a 20% “upside” to that call.
“Increased miner profitability per BTC (bitcoin) mined means they can sell less while maintaining cash inflows, reducing net BTC supply and pushing BTC prices higher,” Kendrick said in a report.
Bitcoin is currently trading at around $30,200 which is still less than its price of $69,000 in November 2021.
Standard Charter said that the prediction of the price rise is due to the miners around the world, who mint 900 new bitcoins every day. These miners would soon need to sell fewer bitcoins to cover their costs – mostly to power supercomputers.
“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 halve due to an inbuilt supply and issuance mechanism that gradually limits supply to maintain its appeal.