Standard Chartered’s Head of Crypto Research believes Bitcoin and Ethereum will end 2022 on a high note. He remains positive that a bullish outcome is in store for the two cryptocurrencies, despite the recent blip in April.
Geoffrey Kendrick, Head of Crypto Research at Standard Chartered, is the latest to share his verdict on the future of cryptocurrencies. During a recent interview, he compared the current state of crypto to tech stocks in the late 1990s. He claimed,
“(So) I’m thinking more about the users. And there are very direct crossovers between the number of users of crypto assets, addresses, and the number of users of the internet in 1999. It actually stacks up in terms of share of global population almost exactly.”
Bitcoin and Ethereum are down 18% and 23% since the start of the year, although they reached their all-time highs in November 2021. In fact, their transaction volumes have also fallen in succession for six months. Even so, Kendrick remains hopeful.
Kendrick believes that the diverse applications of Ethereum will give it the edge over Bitcoin in the future.
“If we fast forward five or ten years, there is a very, very constructive backdrop here. And the use cases in things like Ethereum, for example, haven’t even really been played at all. So my background is very, very positive.
What makes him bullish?
While Bitcoin and Ethereum’s 2022 run has been bearish compared to its run last year, Kendrick believes they “have very different drivers” now.
Bitcoin could reach the upper end of Kendrick’s price prediction. That is, if the token ends up becoming a globally recognized store of value that represents around 2% of global assets, the research director said.
Before that, however, the crypto must continue to help bank the unbanked and grow into a “genuine peer-to-peer transaction solution.”
According to the exec, the next Merge is also an important catalyst for Ethereum. With institutional money pouring into Ethereum, there is a chance that it could even topple Bitcoin. In fact, Kendrick estimates that in the long term, Ethereum could grow more than tenfold to $35,000.
While experts continue to remain on the fence about crypto, markets continue to plunge. Legal ambiguity, regulatory concerns, huge scams, and sustainability issues continue to plague global crypto-growth. A mid-season miracle would do well to spur the sleeping giants of the crypto-industry and improve market sentiment.
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