Winter may be coming in just about a month’s time Down Under, but it’s done and dusted in the Cryptoverse, if you believe H.C. Wainwright.

It’s not exactly JP Morgan in terms of size and rep (although that’s not necessarily a good or bad thing) but the New York investment bank is nevertheless the latest player/analyst of some note to switch bullish on the crypto market, specifically Bitcoin.

We’ll mention another one in a minute, but first, let’s hear what this lot had to say in its latest public statement.

Mike Colonnese, an analyst at H.C. Wainwright, noted that crypto prices have rallied 45% so far this year, with a 67% increase in Bitcoin (BTC) prices. (It’s actually now up about 77% YTD according to our quick double check.)

Price fluctuations aside, the point is, Bitcoin is well up this year, and for Colonnese and Wainright, it indicates that “crypto winter is over and that we have likely now entered BTC’s next bull price cycle (not baked into current estimates).”

 

 

Coinbase is a ‘buy’

The firm has also initiated a “buy” rating on the publicly traded Coinbase Global stock (COIN), noting that the largest US-based crypto exchange is set to benefit from bullish crypto market conditions.

“We believe Coinbase is uniquely positioned to benefit from the large and rapidly growing global crypto economy given its trusted brand, easy to use products, and focus on compliance and regulation, and we expect the company to gain market share in 2023,” wrote Colonnese, adding:

“We view COIN as a scarce asset, as Coinbase is the only publicly listed crypto native company in the US with a market cap in excess of $10B, which means competition for investor capital is extremely limited, and given the current regulatory environment for crypto, we see Coinbase’s scarcity value unlikely to change over the near term.

“Meanwhile, the company continues to diversify revenues away from transaction-based fees to stickier, subscription and services revenues, which we expect will make Coinbase’s revenues more durable over time.”

 

Bitcoin is on a path to $100k: Standard Chartered

British multinational bank Standard Chartered is also bullish on Bitcoin and crypto.

It made headlines earlier this week with a BTC price prediction of US$100k for the end of 2024, which might seem like quite a high estimation to some.

Really, though, and without meaning to go out on a limb here ourselves too much, it isn’t too outlandish, especially if the bull market does return in full swing in 2024, with the Bitcoin halving coming up about this time next year. That, as you probably well know, has historically proven to be a significant bullish catalyst for the crypto market.

Just a reminder: the halving is the built-in four-year mechanism that serves to halve the reward of Proof-of-Work miners that operate in the Bitcoin network.

Halvings reduce the rate at which new coins are created, effectively reducing the supply. The Bitcoin halving occurs every 210,000 blocks, or roughly every four years.

The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and other mid-tier US lenders has strengthened the case for Bitcoin as a “decentralised, trustless and scarce digital asset,” wrote Standard Chartered analyst Geoff Kendrick said in a note to investors a few days ago.

“We see potential for Bitcoin (BTC) to reach the USD 100,000 level by end-2024, as we believe the much-touted ‘crypto winter’ is finally over,” added Kendrick, further noting:

“The current stress in the traditional banking sector is highly conducive to BTC outperformance – and validates the original premise for Bitcoin as a decentralised, trustless and scarce digital asset.

“Given these advantages, we think BTC’s share of total digital assets market cap could move into the 50-60% range in the next few months (from around 45% currently).”

In other news this week for Standard Chartered, the bank, according to a Bloomberg report, is backing the crypto custody firm Zodia Custody, which has just raised US$36 million in a series A funding round.

 

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