Crypto Winter Officially Over, Says Standard Chartered Analyst

Standard Chartered's analyst Geoffrey Kendrick believes that crypto winter is over. In his note published on Friday, he maintained his year-end price targets for Bitcoin and Ethereum, predicting they will reach $100,000 and $4,000 by the end of 2026.

Kendrick argues that Bitcoin's slide to around $59,000 in May marked the cycle bottom, representing a 53% decline from its all-time high of $126,000 set on October 6. He notes that this 'Winter is over. Welcome back to crypto Spring.'

The analyst identifies two primary drivers behind the recent selloff: ETF redemptions and geopolitical tensions. The former saw total outflows from U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs exceed $5.72 billion since May, with anecdotal evidence suggesting holders were liquidating positions for cash ahead of the SpaceX IPO.

Kendrick believes that the demand for SpaceX's listing has now been absorbed, easing the specific selling pressure it created. Geopolitical tensions also played a role, with a potential U.S.-Iran peace deal cooling oil prices and Treasury yields, in turn reducing macro pressure on crypto.