- Bitcoin will hit $125,000 by year-end if Trump wins election, Standard Chartered says.
- Former president would be quicker to change cryptocurrency regulations, bank said.
- Bitcoin would hit $75,000 under Kamala Harris as she is more open to crypto than President Biden, SC says.
Regardless of who wins the presidency, bitcoin will close 2024 at new all-time highs, according to Standard Chartered.
But between the two candidates, the cryptocurrency will skyrocket significantly if Donald Trump is elected.
Under the leadership of the self-proclaimed “crypto president,” bitcoin could hit $125,000 by year-end, analyst Geoff Kendrick wrote Thursday.
That’s a nearly 117% increase, based on Bitcoin’s price of $57,633 on Thursday morning.
Although the former president once opposed the asset class, this election marked a reversal in his position.
At the Bitcoin 2024 conference in July, Trump announced plans to eliminate federal regulations on cryptocurrencies known as “Checkpoint 2.0” and replace Gary Gensler, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
He also promised to keep 100% of federally held bitcoins in a national stockpile. According to Kendrick, the current supply represents about 1% of all bitcoins that will ever be mined.
“This is similar to the amounts of BTC held by MicroStrategy and BlackRock’s ETF, the two largest known holdings in BTC,” the global head of digital asset research wrote.
Trump’s pro-crypto turn was particularly evident when he faced off against President Joe Biden, whose administration was tougher on the industry.
But compared to Biden, current Democratic nominee Kamala Harris will be more open to crypto than some think, Kendrick suggests.
For example, where Biden has maintained a bill preventing banks from providing custody of digital assets, Harris would likely change course.
If Harris wins the presidency, bitcoin will hit $75,000 by the end of the year, Kendrick estimates. While that’s a far cry from Trump’s, it still surpasses bitcoin’s all-time high of nearly $74,000.
“In the event of a Harris victory, we believe BTC would rally after an initial decline, once the market recognizes that regulatory change is still likely under Harris, albeit at a slower pace,” he said.
In line with these predictions, Bernstein analyst Gautam Chhugani also expects bitcoin to rise under Trump, as the market has yet to price in a positive regulatory environment.
He predicts the currency will reach $90,000 by December.
At the same time, Kendrick cited other positives for bitcoin in the coming months. The currency should benefit from the rally in Treasury yields, while momentum is returning to bitcoin ETFs.
Although inflows have been weak in recent months, the dynamics tend to be seasonal, Kendrick said, adding that risk sentiment was low this summer.
Even if Trump wins, Kendrick has tempered his earlier prediction that bitcoin could hit $150,000 by the end of the year. He maintains, however, that it will hit $200,000 by the end of next year, regardless of who is elected president.