Standard Chartered Says $120K Bitcoin Forecast For Q2 2025 Was Too Low, Envisions Stronger Surge

Standard Chartered analyst Geoffrey Kendrick apologizes for his Q2 2025 initial price forecast of $120,000 for Bitcoin, admitting that the target was too low. Kendrick, Standard Chartered's head of digital assets, issued the apology today in an emailed note to clients, as seen and reported by CNBC.  Initial $120K Price Call for Bitcoin By Q2 2025  Notably, Kendrick has earned a reputation in crypto for supporting Bitcoin and setting bullish price targets for BTC. Last month, he predicted that Bitcoin would hit a new all-time high of $120,000 before the end of Q2 2025.  In that prediction, the Standard Chartered expert asserted that Bitcoin’s potential surge to $120,000 would be driven by strong whale accumulation, the strategic shift from U.S.-based securities into assets like Bitcoin, and the rise in U.S. treasury term premium.  While Kendrick expects Bitcoin’s price to hit $120,000 in Q2 2025, he projected that BTC would continue the rally toward $200,000 by the end of the year.  Why $120K Currently Looks Low  In his latest note to clients, Kendrick considers his Q2 2025 Bitcoin forecast of $120,000 too low. He emphasized that Bitcoin’s prevailing narrative has shifted in the past few weeks.  Kendrick noted that Bitcoin’s narrative first hinged on its correlation with risk assets before it evolved into a vehicle for strategic reallocation away from U.S. assets. Notably, the narrative is now centered around capital flows coming from multiple channels. He specifically referenced the significant inflows into U.S. spot-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tied to Bitcoin. According to him, these Bitcoin ETFs saw inflows of $5.3 billion over the past three weeks, indicating strong institutional demand.  Another factor that changed Kendrick’s mind about his Q2 2025 Bitcoin target is the growing demand among corporate entities. In his view, this is reflected in Strategy doubling down on its Bitcoin accumulation spree, Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund Mubadala investing over $400 million into BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF, and the Swiss National Bank gaining indirect exposure to Bitcoin through its acquisition of Strategy’s shares.  Notably, Kendrick did not factor in the strong institutional and corporate demand for Bitcoin in his April 2025 BTC forecast. Given the recent development, Kendrick believes Bitcoin might surpass his initial Q2 2025 Bitcoin forecast of $120,000 before the quarter ends.  Bitcoin Close to Revisiting $100K  His bullish assertion comes on the heels of Bitcoin’s renewed rally toward the psychological price mark of $100,000. At press time, Bitcoin was up 2.95% over the past 24 hours to $99,535.  The premier asset hit a daily high of $99,882 today, less than $200 shy of clinching the $100,000 mark. At $99,535, Bitcoin is currently down 8.77% from its previous ATH of $109,114, registered on January 20, 2025.