Pension Funds Could Push Bitcoin to $200K This Year: Standard Chartered

More money than last year is expected to flow into the Bitcoin space from institutions, according to a report from multinational bank Standard Chartered. 

And the continued flow of such money will push the biggest cryptocurrency to $200,000 per coin by the end of this year, one of the bank’s analysts said in the Wednesday note.

The report said that money would specifically come from those managing pension funds. 

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“If positive action does come, as we expect, we think institutional flows will continue,” the report read. “We expect institutional flows into BTC in 2025 to exceed 2024 levels, with fresh capital likely to come from long-only funds classified as ‘pension funds’.”

Institutions gained exposure to Bitcoin via spot ETFs that were approved last year. Now, big banks and pension funds are able to buy shares that track the underlying price of the asset—without having to store the digital coins themselves. 

The new investment vehicles have helped more money flood into the space from investors previously too cautious to enter. And that’s been great for investor sentiment and the Bitcoin price. Earlier this month, BTC hit a new all-time high of $108,786, CoinGecko shows. 

Following last January’s approval of the 10 Bitcoin ETFs, the asset broke a new high. And the shock victory of crypto-friendly Republican President Donald Trump in November continued to push the asset higher. 

The report added that Ethereum could also benefit from the flood of new money—and hit new highs by the end of this year. 

Wall Street’s top regulator then followed up by approving Ethereum ETFs last year but the trading has not yet led to a fast rise in the asset’s price like it did with its Bitcoin counterparts.

“The dominance of institutional inflows to ETFs is likely to support BTC and ETH performance; we see their prices reaching the $200,000 and $10,000 levels by end-2025, respectively,” it noted. 

Edited by Stacy Elliott.