Bullish predictions: Bitcoin's ascension to $350,000 marks only the start of the current rally

On Monday, Bitcoin (BTC-USD) surpassed $72,000, establishing a new record, but optimistic projections suggest that this is just a fraction of its potential peak. Standard Chartered, a lending institution, envisions Bitcoin reaching $100,000 by the year's end. Research firm Fundstrat provides a target range of $116,000 to $137,000, while the SkyBridge hedge fund predicts a value of $170,000 by April 2025. Anthony Scaramucci, the founder and CEO of SkyBridge Capital, defends such projections despite skepticism, emphasizing their confidence with a substantial position in Bitcoin.

Despite the bullish outlook, some Wall Street experts find it challenging to predict Bitcoin's future value, attributing this difficulty to its perceived lack of intrinsic worth. Many major firms, equipped with extensive research capabilities, are currently refraining from specifying targets. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has even gone so far as to liken Bitcoin to a "pet rock." Described by an anonymous Wall Street research analyst as akin to art, Bitcoin's value is deemed elusive, making target setting a formidable task.

However, this caution hasn't deterred some financial institutions from making ambitious predictions, often exceeding the current valuation. Notably, companies offering such forecasts also market products enabling investors to engage with the digital asset. One such entity is VanEck, a money manager that gained approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission in January to launch a new spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund. Although VanEck abandoned its $80,000 target for 2024 due to recent all-time highs, the company maintains a "medium-term" goal of $350,000.

"We are navigating unexplored territory," expressed Matthew Sigel, head of VanEck's digital assets research, in correspondence with Yahoo Finance.

Ark Invest, another approved bitcoin ETF money manager, has put forth an ambitious long-term bull case projection of over $1.3 million per coin within the next decade. While acknowledging the seemingly "absurd" nature of such a forecast, Yassine Elmandjra, Ark's director of digital assets, rationalizes it by pointing to the increasing value of bitcoin. He believes that the cryptocurrency's diverse use cases, such as being a "store of value" independent of central banks and governments, serving as an inflation hedge, and potentially gaining a larger share in global payments, will contribute to its market value growth.

According to Elmandjra, assessing demand is crucial when estimating how high the price of bitcoin could ultimately reach. 

Unlike traditional stocks where future prices are often projected based on earnings per share and valuation, predicting Bitcoin's future value involves assessing the demand for this uniquely scarce, digitally native asset, according to Yassine Elmandjra, Ark Invest's director of digital assets.

Presently, the demand for bitcoin surpasses its supply, largely influenced by the trading activity of 11 recently launched spot bitcoin ETFs, which have attracted billions since their January debut. These ETFs are acquiring an average of 4,000 coins daily, a significant contrast to the 900 coins generated by the bitcoin network each day, as noted by Mark Connors, head of research for crypto asset manager 3iQ.

Bitcoin is expected to face further supply challenges this year due to the upcoming "halving" estimated between April 19 and 20, which will reduce the daily supply of new coins from 900 to 450. Connors's firm has a conservative target of $110,000 for bitcoin in 2024, escalating to $140,000 the following year. However, they also entertain a more optimistic scenario, envisioning bitcoin reaching $180,000 this year and an impressive $450,000 by 2025.