After rising to relative highs around $53,000 just over two weeks ago, it seemed that Bitcoin ( BTC ) was on track to regain its former all-time highs. However, a series of events that have played out over the past week have caused the world's largest cryptocurrency by total market capitalization to lose nearly 13% of its value, with a single BTC now costing nearly $45,800.
That said, the aforementioned volatility seems to have left Standard Chartered's cryptocurrency research unit completely unmoved, with analysts referring to Bitcoin's recent decline as a "false decline" while reiterating that a year-end target of $100,000 per BTC is still quite achievable for the flagship cryptocurrency.
The banking behemoth believes that Bitcoin will reach $100,000 by the end of 2021 or early 2022, which will also be accompanied by a huge increase in the value of Ether ( ETH ). In fact, the research team indicated that Ether is "structurally" valued at between $26,000 and $35,000 by year-end, but BTC needs to scale to $175,000 for that to happen.
