LIVE MARKETS-Meteoric Rise: Bitcoin set to cruise past $200,000 by end-2025 - Bernstein

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METEORIC RISE: BITCOIN SET TO CRUISE PAST $200,000 BY END-2025 - BERNSTEIN

After a scorching rally in 2024, Bernstein projects Bitcoin BTC= will rise to $200,000 by the end of 2025 as the narrative around sovereign adoption of the cryptocurrency gains traction along with supply and demand dynamics.

Bitcoin catapulted above $100,000 in December, a milestone hailed even by skeptics as a coming-of-age for digital assets as investors bet on a friendly U.S. administration to cement the place of cryptocurrencies in financial markets.

U.S. President-elect Trump - who once labeled crypto a scam - embraced digital assets during his campaign, promising to make the country the "crypto capital of the planet" and to accumulate a national stockpile of bitcoin.

"A national Bitcoin reserve announcement by the U.S. would spark a global sovereign race to acquire Bitcoin amongst nation states," say Bernstein analysts, with bitcoin have gained 120% in 2024.

At the same time, Bernstein says its $200,000 forecast does not factor government demand - only institutional and corporate demand.

That said, Bitcoin ETF inflows will exceed $70 billion in 2025 compared to $35 billion in 2024 led by accelerated institutional adoption, brokerage adds.

Alongside, total corporate Treasury purchase in 2025 are expected to exceed $50 billion from $24 billion in 2024 and MicroStrategy MSTR.O, an aggressive investor in the world's largest crypto asset, will likely lead the bulk of this demand, as per brokerage estimates.

Other highlighted predictions from Bernstein on the 2025 Crypto outlook:

Bitcoin miners will continue to shift capacity to AI for value creation. Expect more activist investor action in Bitcoin miners.

SEC withdraws or settles its cases against leading crypto companies and protocols. Legislation on Digital asset market structure and Digital asset securities is placed in both houses. CFTC is given more power on Digital assets than SEC.

Stablecoins to cross $0.5 trillion in 2025.

Expect significant crypto capital market activity and a wave of crypto IPOs.

Banks and asset managers launch new crypto offerings - trading, custody, active asset management products.

Ethereum redeems itself as the second most valued chain after Bitcoin, reflected in strong ETH price action.

AI enhances crypto functionality, with improved automated workflows and AI enabled crypto wallets and trading.

(Siddarth S)

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