Standard Chartered: Bitcoin's Tech-Driven Sell-Off Offers 'Buy the Dip' Opportunity, Predicts $200,000 by 2025

Bitcoin (BTC) has been grappling with a recent sell-off, driven by factors in the tech sector, according to Standard Chartered. The multinational bank's analysts have advised investors to "buy the dip" as the cryptocurrency's price plunged below $100,000. Geoff Kendrick, Standard Chartered's Global Head of Digital Assets Research, attributed the decline to the massive popularity of DeepSeek, a Chinese AI app rivaling OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and the continued coupling of tech stocks with Bitcoin prices. However, the bank remains optimistic about Bitcoin's forecast in 2025, predicting a potential price jump to $200,000 by the end of the year.

The bank's prediction is based on its expectation that spot Bitcoin ETFs could attract inflows of $50-100 billion in 2024. Standard Chartered estimates that between 437,000 and 1.32 million Bitcoin will be held in United-States-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs by the end of 2024, equating to between $50-100 billion in inflows. Kendrick and Suki Cooper, Standard Chartered's precious metals analyst, believe that an end-2025 level closer to $200,000 is possible if ETF-related inflows materialize as expected.

Standard Chartered views spot Bitcoin ETF approvals as a "watershed moment" for normalizing Bitcoin participation, which could drive significant price gains over a shorter period (one to two years) compared to the seven to eight years it took for gold ETPs. The banking executives also noted that their latest Bitcoin price prediction is in line with their recent Bitcoin price prediction of $100,000 by the end of 2024.

While much investor focus has centered around the spot Bitcoin ETFs, one industry pundit suggests that Bitcoin's strengthened network "fundamentals" should be another factor to consider when evaluating Bitcoin’s price. Blockchain strategist Jamie Coutts of Pragmatic Blockchain Research noted that Bitcoin’s fundamentals are at an all-time high, according to a logarithmic "Bitcoin Network Activity" by "Bitcoin Price" graph shared by blockchain analytics firm CryptoQuant.com. Coutts believes that Bitcoin is still 40% below its peak and is undervalued.

Bitcoin's recent price decline has set off roughly $68 million in long position liquidations, the third-largest liquidation event in the preceding three months. However, the drop did not trigger panic selling, with short-term holder transfers to exchanges staying under 2,000 BTC, much less than the usual 5,000+ BTC movements seen during past drops of such scale. The Bitcoin futures annualized premium has also remained above the 10% threshold, suggesting continuous institutional confidence in the cryptocurrency.




In conclusion, Standard Chartered's analysts advise investors to "buy the dip" as Bitcoin faces a tech-driven sell-off. The bank predicts that Bitcoin could reach nearly $200,000 by the end of 2025, driven by institutional interest and potential inflows from spot Bitcoin ETFs. While the recent sell-off has caused some concern, Bitcoin's strong fundamentals and continued institutional support suggest that the cryptocurrency remains a promising investment opportunity.