Bitcoin prices may hit new highs in 2024

Subscribe Subscribe Bitcoin prices may quadruple by end of 2024 ALBAWABA – London-based Standard Chartered bank predicted that the world’s largest and first cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, will hit $120,000 by the end of 2024, Reuters reported Tuesday. Also Read Markets wary of Bitcoin halving in April That is almost double its record high of 2021, when it breached the $60,000 barrier. Bitcoin miners with high liquidity are holding off on sales, reducing market offerings and raising prices ahead of the “ halving” event, in April next year . “Increased miner profitability per BTC mined means they can sell less while maintaining cash inflows, reducing net BTC supply and pushing BTC prices higher,” Geoff Kendrick at Standard Chartered wrote Monday. The bank expects Bitcoin prices to quadruple by the end of next year. Google Finance priced Bitcoin at $30,559.60 on Monday. Notably, Bitcoin has nearly doubled in value in the first six months of the year , up more than 80 percent from January. Standard Chartered, back in April, predicted that Bitcoin could reach $100,000 by the end of next year. But the bank underestimated the impact of higher miner profitability on reducing the supply of Bitcoin in the marketplace, they now say, according to Reuters. The bank now expects the price to hit $50,000 by the end of this year. “At recent prices, they [miners] have been selling 100% of new BTC; at $50,000 we think they would sell 20-30%,” Kendrick wrote. Bitcoin prices surge after every "halving" Reuters also reported predictions by Ark Investment Management’s Cathie Wood, who doubled down on her prediction in November that Bitcoin will hit $1 million by 2030. The next bitcoin halving event is slated for April 2024 - Source: Shutterstock Adding to supply pressure is an upcoming halving event. Typically, Bitcoin prices surge in the aftermath of every halving. The halving is a pre-programmed event that will reduce the supply of Bitcoin rewards available to miners from about 900 per day to about 450. This event occurs every four years, and it keeps Bitcoin below its limit of 21 million tokens. Miners earn bitcoins validating transactions on the digital asset’s blockchain using specialized, energy-intensive computers. The last three halving occurrences in 2012, 2016 and 2020 saw Bitcoin jump nearly 8,450 percent, 290 percent and 560 percent a year on, according to Bloomberg. Also Read Bitcoin nearly doubles in value in 6 months Subscribe Sign up to our newsletter for exclusive updates and enhanced content Subscribe Now Subscribe Sign up to get Al Bawaba's exclusive celeb scoops and entertainment news Subscribe to our newsletter for exclusive updates and enhanced content Subscribe