- An analyst at Standard Chartered believes that Bitcoin will surge to $100k in 2024.
- Based on the current market cap, it means that it will get to $2 trillion if this happens.
- Other altcoins like Stacks, Solana, Litecoin, IOTA, and EOS will also jump.
Cryptocurrency prices have done well in 2023, outperforming the stock and commodities market. Bitcoin price has surged to over $38,000 while Ethereum sits at $2,000. Other cryptocurrencies like IOTA, EOS, and Solana have more than doubled. In all, the total market cap has jumped to over $1.4 trillion.
Analysts are torn about the future of cryptocurrencies. Some, like the late Charlie Munger believe that cryptocurrencies are a scam that will ultimately go to zero. Munger, who was Buffett’s right-hand man, made some quite memorable crypto quotes. One of his most popular was:
“When you’re dealing with something as awful as crypto shit, it’s just unspeakable. I’m ashamed of my country that many people believe in this kind of crap and that the government allows it to exist.”
In another statement, Charlie Munger said:
“A cryptocurrency is not a commodity, not a currency, and not a security. Instead, it’s a gambling contract with nearly 100% edge for the house, entered a country where gambling contracts are traditionally regulated only by states that compete in laxity.”
Bitcoin has stood the test of time and largely proven Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett wrong. Indeed, I believe that Berkshire Hathaway would have been a bigger company if they had allocated some of their $150 billion into Bitcoin. Besides, Bitcoin is the only financial asset that moved from less than $1 in 2009 to over $68,000 in a decade.
On the other hand, analysts at Standard Chartered are still optimistic about Bitcoin. In a note, they insisted that BTC was on track to hit $100,000 by 2024. At the time of writing, Bitcoin was valued at over $740 billion. Therefore, if it rallies to over $100k, it means that its total market cap will be almost $2 trillion. The analyst wrote:
“We now expect more price upside to materialize before the halving than we previously did, specifically via the earlier-than-expected introduction of U.S. spot ETFs. This suggests a risk that the USD 100,000 level could be reached before end-2024.”
There are several potential catalysts for Bitcoin in 2024. The most important one is the Federal Reserve, which has hinted that it will start to slash interest rates in 2024. This view was confirmed by Christopher Waller, a Fed member who is known for his hawkish stance. He now sees rates falling by about 0.25% by June if inflation continues falling.
The other big catalyst for Bitcoin price will be the upcoming halving, which will happen in late June of 2024. BTC tends to rally hard ahead of the halving event.
Meanwhile, there is an elevated chance that the SEC will approve a Bitcoin ETF, which will lead to more inflows.
Therefore, if Standard Chartered analyst’s Bitcoin prediction is accurate, it means that other altcoins like EOS, IOTA, Stacks, Litecoin, and Solana will also rally as well. In the past, these altcoins tend to have a close correlation with Bitcoin. Some of them like Solana have outperformed Bitcoin this year.
Cryptocurrencies like Stacks, Litecoin, and ORDI have a close relationship with BTC. Stacks is a smart contract layer for Bitcoin while Litecoin is a BTC hard fork. ORDI is the token for the popular Bitcoin Ordinals.
