JPMorgan Sees Significant Upside In Bitcoin Prices, Calls Cryptos Preferred Alternative Asset

JPMorgan has said that it sees a "significant upside" to the price of bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency. The global investment bank estimated that the token would rise 28% "going forward" and cryptos will replace real estate as its “preferred alternative asset class along with hedge funds.”

JPMorgan has launched a blockchain network, Liink, that allows institutions to exchange payment-related information and a token, JPM Coin, that enables clients to transfer their dollar deposits despite its CEO's high-pitched skepticism of cryptocurrencies. Jamie Dimon had called cryptos a "fraud," "fool's gold" and "worthless."

In a note shared with several media houses Wednesday, JPMorgan strategists, including Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, wrote that their price target for bitcoin remains at $38,000, “implying significant upside for digital assets from here.”

Bitcoin was trading at $29,628, down 0.52%, as of 3.03 a.m. ET, CoinMarketCap data showed. JPMorgan’s fair value estimate for BTC is nearly 28% higher than the current price.

JPMorgan strategists said, "The past month’s crypto market correction looks more like capitulation relative to last January/February and going forward we see upside for bitcoin and crypto markets more generally."

While the global bank’s price target for Bitcoin is $38K, its strategists said that their long-term theoretical target price for the cryptocurrency is $150K.

"We thus replace real estate with digital assets as our preferred alternative asset class along with hedge funds," the strategists wrote in the note.

The JPMorgan note came after a massive blow to the crypto market that also resulted in terra (LUNA) and algorithmic stablecoin terrausd (UST) imploding.

The strategists noted that while the sudden collapse of the two cryptocurrencies has weakened the sentiment of many crypto investors, there was little sign so far that venture capital funding into the crypto sector is slowing down.