Standard Chartered sees bitcoin hitting $100,000 by early next year

LONDON (Reuters) – A new cryptocurrency research team at Standard Chartered has predicted bitcoin will double in value and hit $100,000 by early next year and that it could be worth as much as $175,000 longer-term. 

  The bank also said it “structurally” valued Ethereum, the second-most traded crypto asset, at $26,000-$35,000 although to reach that level bitcoin would have to be near $175,000. 

  “As a medium of exchange, bitcoin may become the dominant peer-to-peer payment method for the global unbanked in a future cashless world,” Standard Chartered’s new crypto research unit headed by Geoffrey Kendrick who is also the global head of its emerging market currency research said in a note sent to clients on Tuesday. 

  “Cyclically, we expect a peak around $100,000 in late 2021 or early 2022” 

  Bitcoin was at $46,024 in early European trading on Wednesday after scaling a four-month high above $52,000 on Monday while Ethereum consolidated losses at $3,366. 

  (Reporting by Marc Jones; Editing by Saikat Chatterjee)