The Standard Chartered Bank report pointed out that the increased profitability of miners and the halving of Bitcoin mining rewards are important factors affecting the rise in Bitcoin prices, both of which will limit supply and push up prices. However, the Governor of the Bank of England has reservations about Bitcoin and the Canadian dollar. He believes that Bitcoin is a speculative investment and prefers to develop a more robust and functional digital currency.

Miners and halving are key factors affecting Bitcoin price

According to Reuters, Standard Chartered Bank raised its price forecast for Bitcoin in 2024 in a research report on Monday, stating that Bitcoin will likely reach $50,000 by the end of the year and hit $120,000 within next year. Previously, it had made a $100,000 prediction for Bitcoin in April this year.

Standard Chartered Bank analyst Geoff Kendrick explained that due to the increase in Bitcoin prices in the past six months, miners will sell fewer Bitcoins, thus promoting further upward price increases and creating a positive cycle. In other words, the improvement of miners' profitability is a potential driving factor for their price increases.

At the same time, he also stated that the halving of Bitcoin’s mining rewards is expected to occur around April next year. With the expected reduction in supply, it will also be the reason why he predicts that Bitcoin will rise in the second half of the year.

Kendrick told Reuters:

The crypto winter has passed. Even though there were previous central bank interest rate hikes and a series of collapses of crypto companies, the collapse of some traditional banks this year has driven a market rebound.

In addition, Citibank’s predictions two years ago fell short, with its analysts claiming in November 2020 that Bitcoin could rise to $318,000 by the end of 2022. As you can imagine, however, Bitcoin hovered around $17,000 for several months at the end of the year, which is a far cry from that.

It is understandable that due to the crazy rise of Bitcoin in just a few years of life, Standard Chartered Bank also has its reasons for predicting that it will have a sky-high valuation.

Bank of England: Bitcoin is a speculative investment product

However, according to Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey’s remarks on the “prospects of currency” yesterday (10), he does not seem to be so optimistic about Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

He said that neither Bitcoin nor stablecoins meet the safe currency standards expected by the financial system. Neither has passed the tests of currency singleness and settlement finality, so they are not currencies.

Bitcoin has no intrinsic value and is highly volatile and should be considered a speculative investment. The stablecoins that are often used as the basis for settlement are not stable at all.

He went on to explain that a series of bank failures in the United States and Switzerland in the first half of this year showed that even banks that have passed the review still have safety concerns.

It can be seen from the official speech that Bailey prefers to develop enhanced or functional digital currencies such as Central Bank Digital Currency (CNBC), rather than currently existing cryptocurrencies and stablecoins, and added: " Cash is here to stay.”

Last week, the UK just approved the Financial Services and Markets Bill (FSMB). As the main regulatory unit, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has introduced a number of restrictive measures, including a strict ban on the promotion of crypto products, to regulate the current crypto financial market.

This article Standard Chartered says Bitcoin will see $120,000 next year! The Governor of the Bank of England: Bitcoin has no intrinsic value first appeared on Chain News ABMedia.