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The research report by Standard Chartered Bank suggests that the "crypto winter" has come to an end and the world's largest cryptocurrency, bitcoin (BTC), has the potential to reach $100,000 by the end of the year.

The climb to $100,000 could be driven by a number of factors, including the recent banking-sector crisis that helped to “re-establish bitcoin’s use as a decentralized scarce digital asset,” the bank said in the report on Monday.

“Against this backdrop, bitcoin has benefited from its status as a branded safe haven, a perceived relative store of value and a means of remittance,” analyst Geoff Kendrick wrote. Since the beginning of this year, Bitcoin has experienced a 65% increase in value. Last week, it surpassed the $30,000 mark for the first time in almost a year. Currently, it is trading at $27,328, which reflects a 1.2% decrease in the last 24 hours.

The report further highlights that the improving macroeconomic conditions for high-risk assets, as the Federal Reserve approaches the end of its tightening cycle, could also serve as a driving force behind bitcoin's potential to reach $100,000.“While BTC can trade well when risky assets suffer, correlations to the Nasdaq suggest that it should trade better if risky assets improve broadly,” Kendrick said.

Standard Chartered anticipates that Bitcoin's portion of the total cryptocurrency market capitalization will increase to the range of 50-60%. Currently, the dominance rate of Bitcoin is approximately 47%, as per data from TradingView. During the aftermath of Silicon Valley Bank in mid-March, the dominance rate was around 40%.

Bitcoin’s upcoming halving – the process whereby the rewards for mining a new block gets halved every four years – is also poised to be a positive driver for bitcoin, Kendrick wrote. “As we approach the next halving, we expect cyclical drivers to become more constructive, as they have in previous cycles,” he said.

Kendrick noted that the upcoming halving of Bitcoin, which involves the reduction of mining rewards for each new block by half every four years, is expected to have a positive impact on the cryptocurrency. He stated that "As we approach the next halving, we expect cyclical drivers to become more constructive, as they have in previous cycles."

Source Coindesk