Bitcoin (BTC) Price Prediction: Standard Chartered Doubles Down on Its Bullish Outlook, Targeting $500K

This forecast comes from the mouth of Geoffrey Kendrick, talking to The Block.

Standard Chartered has doubled down on its previous bullish outlook on Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), stating that the apex coin can potentially reach the $500K mark before Donald Trump’s presidential term ends.

This forecast was highlighted by the Bank’s Global Head of Digital Assets Research, Geoffrey Kendrick, in an interview with The Block.

Newly disclosed evidence suggests that institutional and sovereign interest in Bitcoin is the key factor behind this prediction, according to Kendrick.

“The 13F data from the US Securities and Exchange Commission supports our core thesis that Bitcoin will reach $500,000 before Trump leaves office, and that emerging markets are leading the way in investing in new asset classes such as digital assets,” he explained. “The 13F reports show that Bitcoin is attracting a wide range of institutional players.”

Form 13F, as mentioned on the official website of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, is a “statutory directive designed to increase the public availability of information regarding the securities holdings of larger institutional investors.”

Essentially, it refers to the quarterly filings that the SEC requires institutional investment managers with over $100 million in assets under management to file.

The report by Standard Chartered highlighted that government entities have increased their Strategy (MSTR) holdings in Q1. The report also revealed that France and Saudi Arabia, for the first time, opened their MSTR positions, and institutions from Switzerland and Norway have added more to their existing ones.

And since Strategy is the most bullish institution to dive into Bitcoin to date, with almost weekly news about making massive purchases, government entities holding the stock of such an institution is “highly encouraging,” according to Geoffrey Kendrick.

“The quarterly 13F data is the best test of our thesis that BTC will attract new institutional buyer types as the market matures, helping the price reach our USD 500,000 target level,” Kendrick said.

He has also suggested that when institutions buy Bitcoin, the BTC price rises.

This shows that although there are concerns about the massive institutional and sovereign accumulation of Bitcoin countering its “decentralized status,” their emergence could be considered encouraging as well.

Best Crypto to Buy Now – Top 3 Tokens that Could See Most Gains

BTC Bull

While Bitcoin’s price action has pulled back from its all-time high, the fact that there are industry leaders believing that it will hit the $500K mark is encouraging.

However, since the sovereign and institutional hold of Bitcoin is still in question, investors should look towards the meme coin market that focuses on the original ethos of Bitcoin — decentralization and accessibility.

BTC Bull could be considered such an asset, presenting a bullish image of Bitcoin through its mascot while also crafting pathways that could boost its value as the Bitcoin price grows.

When Bitcoin hits the $125K mark, BTC Bull will start a minor token burn, and when the price rises by another $25K, BTC Bull will organize a Bitcoin airdrop event. This will happen every time the Bitcoin price crosses a major milestone until the golden goal of $250K is reached.

As simplified as this approach is, it is effective since BTC Bull itself has created a strong community. Its ICO has raised over $6 million already.

YouTubers like Crypto ZEUS have also talked about the project positively, stating that it could be huge in 2025.

Solaxy

Bitcoin’s recent surge past its all-time high hasn’t had much impact on Solana (CRYPTO: SOL), which is still trading at under $200. The reason for this “decoupling” of the price action is the result of Solana’s thriving ecosystem and the scalability issues it is facing as it tries to grow.

Solaxy is a meme coin project that has emerged to deal with this issue through its own brand of L2 solution. As the world’s first L2 solution for the Solana blockchain, Solaxy aims to make Solana more efficient.

Hyperlane for bridging Solaxy to Solana, ZK Rollups to help with off-chain transactions, and Celestia to maintain the L2 ecosystem are the key technologies Solaxy has employed, and they have been helpful.

Solaxy isn’t merely showing a vision of an L2—it is in the process of actually creating one. Developers are constantly delivering updates, and the blockchain explorer has already been activated.

Memes created through Solaxy’s socials are also generating a lot of buzz, with many getting funny reactions.

In terms of technical impact alone, Solaxy is moving further along to introduce more updates, as described in the above video by Alessandro De Crypto. Considering this project has raised over $40 million already, now could be the right time to invest.

Mind of Pepe

Bitcoin’s growth towards $500K could lead to many of the old narratives coming to the forefront — such as AI agents. Although not that old, the narrative