Bitcoin hit a fresh record close to $73,000 thanks to optimism over US interest rate cuts
Another financial entity has raised its Bitcoin price target for year-end 2024 as the crypto world awaits the April halving event. AFP

KEY POINTS

  • Bernstein's earlier target for year-end 2024 BTC prices was at $80,000
  • The brokerage firm also predicted that Riot and CleanSpark will emerge as industry leaders
  • Standard Chartered also hiked its Bitcoin price projection to $150,000 earlier this week

Research and brokerage firm Bernstein revised its year-end Bitcoin price projection from $80,000 to $90,000 amid the apparent improvement in market dynamics and the recent bull run of the world's first decentralized cryptocurrency.

"Given general bull market conditions with strong ETF (exchange-traded fund) inflows, low miner leverage, and robust network transaction fees this cycle, the halving impact seems relatively mild on the miners, with dollar revenues cushioned," Bernstein analysts Gautam Chhugani and Mahika Sapra wrote in a client note Thursday, as per multiple outlets.

The analysts also predicted that Bitcoin mining firms Riot Platforms and CleanSpark will emerge as "the largest miners with the largest self-mining capacity."

It is worth noting that BTC prices have fallen from an all-time high of over $73,000 last week, but some analysts remain bullish about the cryptocurrency's potential bounce-back before the year ends. Bitcoin was trading between $65,000 and $66,000 as of Thursday night.

Bitcoin's halving event – wherein BTC mining rewards are split in half, thus reducing the rate at which new supply is circulated – is expected to take place next month. Industry observers and experts are split regarding the impact of BTC halving. Some believe it will pull prices down, while others see the event as having a positive impact on the world's leading digital coin.

The cryptocurrency has been breaking its own all-time high prices since the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs. The historic milestone triggered a bull run that saw some of the most prominent Bitcoin buyers snap up more Bitcoins.

One such buyer is Michael Saylor's MicroStrategy, which, on Thursday, revealed that it now holds over 214,000 Bitcoin following its latest buy of over 9,000 BTC. The business intelligence firm also said earlier this year that it was transitioning into a "Bitcoin development company." It is known to be the largest corporate BTC holder.

Bitcoin's surge has also encouraged crypto-friendly El Salvador to continue purchasing the digital coin. Its president, Nayib Bukele, said earlier this week that the country will continue to buy Bitcoin "until it becomes unaffordable with fiat currencies."

Meanwhile, Bernstein is only the second firm this month to hike its Bitcoin price target. Standard Chartered said Tuesday that it now sees potential for BTC prices to hit up to $150,000 at the end of 2024.

It went on to predict that should spot Bitcoin ETFs reach mid-point estimates of $75 billion, the digital coin can even reach $250,000 sometime next year.

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