Bitcoin forecast slashed 🔪

Analysts for Standard Chartered have halved their Bitcoin price forecast for 2025 and 2026, as corporate buying and ETF inflows tail off.

Author

Stephen Graves
December 09, 2025

đź“ť What you need to know

British multinational bank Standard Chartered has slashed its Bitcoin price forecast for 2025 and 2026 in half, with analyst Geoffrey Kendrick now expecting the cryptocurrency to reach $100,000 in 2025, $150,000 in 2026, and pushing back the $500,000 target by two years to 2030.

Kendrick argued that aggressive buying by digital asset treasury firms is “likely over” and pointed to longer-term ETF buyers as a “much more important price driver”—while pouring cold water on the idea of a crypto winter and arguing that the halving cycle that has underpinned Bitcoin’s previous price movements no longer applies.

Mere hours after the bank published its report, Bitcoin saw a sudden spurt of upward momentum that pushed it above $94,000. With just a few weeks left in the year, could we yet see a “Santa rally?” Myriad predictors aren’t optimistic, placing just a 24% chance on that outcome.

Standard Chartered Slashes 2025 Bitcoin Forecast to $100K

The bank has cut its 2025 Bitcoin price target by half, citing the end of corporate buying and sharply slowing ETF inflows.

đź“° In the News

Crypto Shorts Get Rekt as Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP Spike Ahead of Fed Decision

Bitcoin is surging towards $95,000 on Tuesday ahead of the Fed's interest rate decision, hitting its highest price since mid-November.

OCC Chief: Banks Blocking Crypto Custody Is 'Recipe for Irrelevance'

Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould warned that restricting national trust banks from digital assets would stifle innovation.

Bitcoin Slips Toward ETF Break-Even Level as Inflows Slow, but Support May Be Building

Bitcoin is drifting back toward the price where ETF buyers break even, as inflows slow and investors look to the Fed’s decision this week.

VeChain Unveils New 'Hayabusa' Consensus and Tokenomics Upgrade

With more than 5.5 million app users in the last year, VeChain is focusing on tangible use cases for crypto that “you can hold in your hands.”

Sponsored post by VeChain

đź“Š Myriad Market of the Day

Strategy’s mNAV next move: Pump to 1.5x or Dump to 0.85x?

Trade "Strategy’s mNAV next move: Pump to 1.5x or Dump to 0.85x?" on Myriad

đź’¬ Quote of the Day

âťť

“It is important that we do not confine banks, including current national trust banks, to the technologies or businesses of the past. That’s a recipe for irrelevance.”

Jonathan Gould, Comptroller of the Currency

🥇 Be First to Market With Myriad

Join the Myriad Markets Telegram to see the latest prediction markets the second they drop!

With Myriad, the on-chain prediction market launched by Decrypt’s parent company DASTAN, you can break the news and stake the news, using USDC and points.

🕵🏻‍♀️ Editor’s Picks

UK Political Parties Call for Investigation into Reform UK Crypto Donations

The Liberal Democrats have raised concerns over conflicts of interest, after Nigel Farage namechecked Tether in a September interview.

Ninth Defendant Pleads Guilty in $263M Crypto Social-Engineering Scheme

Evan Tangeman acknowledged helping launder at least $3.5 million for the SE Enterprise group, along with turning stolen crypto into bulk cash.

CFTC to Pilot Tokenized Collateral in Derivatives Markets Starting With Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDC

The CFTC has introduced a pilot allowing Bitcoin, Ethereum, and USDC to be used as margin, while updating rules to support tokenized assets.

đź“š Watch and Learn

📷️ WATCH: Borrowing Against Your Tesla Stock to Buy a Car Is the Future of DeFi

Superstate founder and CEO Robert Leshner said tokenization will hit velocity when end users start to get excited about applications, like borrowing cash against stock to help fund a vehicle purchase. But we're not there yet, he said.

🎓️ LEARN: What Is Q-Day? The Quantum Threat to Bitcoin Explained

Experts warn quantum computers could someday forge Bitcoin’s digital signatures, allowing unauthorized transactions.

Interested in partnering with Decrypt? Find out more here.