Bitcoin could plunge 70% to $5,000, Standard Chartered predicts, in possible 2023 'surprise'

Bitcoin could driblet to $5,000 adjacent twelvemonth successful a marketplace astonishment that investors are under-pricing, according to Standard Chartered.

If that level is reached, it would people a astir 70% plunge from Monday's terms of conscionable implicit $17,000 for 1 bitcoin.

In a enactment entitled "The financial-market surprises of 2023," Standard Chartered outlined a fig of imaginable scenarios that "we consciousness are under-priced by the markets."

"Yields plunge on with exertion shares, and portion the Bitcoin sell-off decelerates, the harm has been done. More and much crypto firms and exchanges find themselves with insufficient liquidity, starring to further bankruptcies and a illness successful capitalist assurance successful integer assets," Eric Robertsen, planetary caput of probe astatine Standard Chartered Bank, said successful the enactment Sunday.

Robertsen said the somewhat utmost scenarios "have a non-zero probability of occurring successful the twelvemonth ahead, and ... autumn materially extracurricular of the marketplace statement oregon our ain baseline views."

Bitcoin has already fallen much than 60% this twelvemonth aft a drawstring of high-profile collapses of projects and companies plagued the industry. The latest and biggest casualty is cryptocurrency speech FTX which has filed for bankruptcy. Contagion from the fallout of FTX continues to dispersed done the market.

The driblet successful bitcoin's terms volition besides coincide with a rally successful gold, Robertsen said, arguing the yellowish metallic could perchance rally 30% to $2,250 per ounce "as cryptocurrencies autumn further and much crypto firms succumb to liquidity squeezes and capitalist withdrawals."

Robertsen says golden could re-establish itself arsenic a harmless haven, with investors flocking to the commodity for stableness successful times of marketplace volatility.

"The 2023 resurgence successful golden [also] comes arsenic equities resume their carnivore marketplace and the correlation betwixt equity and enslaved prices shifts backmost to negative," helium added.

Standard Chartered's presumption is not the lone bearish outlook connected bitcoin. Veteran capitalist Mark Mobius told CNBC past week that helium sees bitcoin falling to $10,000 successful 2023 owed to rising involvement rates and tighter monetary argumentation from the U.S. Federal Reserve.

However, determination are inactive those who are bullish connected bitcoin. Venture Capitalist Tim Draper told CNBC connected Saturday that helium thinks bitcoin tin deed $250,000 adjacent year.