- Analysts say Bitcoin will trade above $200,000 before 2026.
- Arthur Hayes is among analysts who are bullish on the cryptocurrency’s chances.
What comes next?
That’s the question traders are asking since Bitcoin’s price jumped back above $110,000 after US President Donald Trump extended his deadline before hitting the European Union with hefty tariffs.
The overwhelming answer from market watchers? Up.
Punters on the crypto betting platform Polymarket have poured money into a bullish bet that the top cryptocurrency will hit $115,000 before the end of May.
Similarly, on options platform Deribit almost half of the calls at the May 30 expiration date are on trades that only pay out if Bitcoin trades above $110,000. Traders are even more bullish, with $170,000 being the most popular call for the December 26 expiration.
Here’s what nine experts say will drive the price.
Arthur Hayes, Maelstrom
Bitcoin will hit $1 million before 2028, according to Arthur Hayes
Maelstrom’s chief investment officer argued in his latest blog post that a combination of Trump’s economic policies and rising global instability will drive investors away from US government debt.
Investors who exit what’s been deemed the safest securities in the world for decades will have to put their dosh somewhere else.
Hayes’ bet? That they’ll plough into Bitcoin.
Geoff Kendrick, Standard Chartered
Bitcoin is thundering towards a $120,000 price before July, Geoffrey Kendrick said as the cryptocurrency hit its $111,814 record on May 22.
Having already made the prediction in April, Standard Chartered’s top crypto analyst said the market continues to flash bullish signals.
For instance, investors have pulled $3.6 billion from gold exchange-traded funds and added $7.5 billion into Bitcoin ETFs since April 22.
Bitcoin ETFs now hold $128 billion of the digital asset, just under 6% of the total supply, according to Dune Analytics.
Additionally, private players like Strategy and government proxies stocking up on Bitcoin will push the price to $200,000 by the end of 2025 and to $500,000 by the end of 2028, Kendrick said.
Bernstein
Three analysts from Bernstein, the equity research and brokerage firm, say institutional adoption of cryptocurrencies will drive Bitcoin to $200,000 before 2026.
“We expect Wall Street to replace Satoshi as the top Bitcoin wallet,” wrote Gautam Chhugani, Bernstein’s managing director of global digital assets, and two other analysts in May.
They referred to Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin’s mysterious founder who holds almost $121 billion worth of the cryptocurrency.
Noelle Acheson, Crypto is Macro Now
Is Bitcoin a safe haven asset? Yes and no, argued crypto analyst Noelle Acheson in her “Crypto is Macro Now” newsletter on May 21.
Her argument was that Bitcoin has adopted a Schrödingeresque quality where investors simultaneously view it as a risk-on asset like tech stocks, and as a safe haven asset like gold.
If it behaves like tech stocks, investors bet that the US government will eventually intervene if capital markets continue to wobble.
On the other hand, if investors view it as a safe haven asset, then they’ll pour into it as geopolitical fragmentation and rising inflation keep shaking markets.
Win, win, in other words, according to the Madrid-based analyst.
Jay Jacobs, BlackRock
BlackRock’s US head of equity ETFs, Jay Jacobs, is one of the people arguing that Bitcoin is increasingly behaving like a safe haven asset.
In April, he argued that Bitcoin is increasingly decoupling from tech stocks, which has incentivised investors to inject money into the asset.
Utkarsh Ahuja, Moon Pursuit Capital
Bitcoin may hit $120,000 before the first week of June, Utkarsh Ahuja, managing partner at Moon Pursuit Capital, a hedge fund and venture capital firm, told DL News on May 16.
He said Trump’s policies will weaken the dollar and force the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates, which tends to incentivise investors to bet on Bitcoin.
Other tailwinds include Trump’s pro-crypto policies, which have seen him plug crypto allies into key policy roles with the aim of easing regulatory pressure on the industry.
“We’re going gangbusters,” Ahuja said.
Reece Hobson, eToro
Reece Hobson, crypto analyst at eToro Australia, said he expects Bitcoin’s recent record high to be just the start of another rally.
On May 22, Hobson said the optimism could drive the price as high as $174,000.
Eric Johansson is DL News’ News Editor. Got a tip? Email at eric@dlnews.com.
