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- Standard Chartered noted that Bitcoin miners could be hoarding more BTC as the Bitcoin price surges further.
- With Bitcoin halving less than a year from now, analysts are increasingly turning bullish for Bitcoin.
Over the last week, Bitcoin (BTC) has been consolidating around the $30,400 level and a market cap of $591 billion. Market analysts have continued to remain bullish on Bitcoin with the Bitcoin halving event scheduled next year.
In its recent report, banking giant Standard Chartered gave a very bullish prediction for the Bitcoin price for 2023, as well as for the next two years. The report notes that the Bitcoin price could touch $50,000 by the year-end and could further rally all the way to $120,000 by the end of 2024.
Earlier this year in April, the British multinational bank stated that the crypto winter was over. It also predicted that the BTC price would be hitting $100,000 by the end of 2024. According to Standard Chartered FX analyst Geoff Kendrick, they are now increasing this price target with a further 20% upside to their previous price prediction.
Bitcoin Miners to Hoard More BTC
In their recent analysis, Standard Chartered notes that the current surge in the Bitcoin price is likely to encourage Bitcoin miners to hoard more supply. This would result in a lower number of Bitcoins available for trading thereby putting a positive price pressure on its price.
Every day, around 900 new Bitcoins are created through mining. As the price of Bitcoin increases, miners don’t need to sell as much of their newly minted Bitcoins to cover their expenses. This gives them an incentive to hold onto their tokens in the hope that the prices will rise even more in the future.
According to Kendrik, miners have been selling all of their newly mined coins. However, if the price of Bitcoin reaches $50,000, they may only need to sell 20-30% of their coins to cover their operational costs and continue their mining activities.
“It is the equivalent of miners reducing the amount of bitcoins they sell per day to just 180-270 from 900 currently,” he said. “Over a year, that would reduce miner selling from 328,500 to a range of 65,700-98,550 – a reduction in net BTC supply of roughly 250,000 bitcoins a year.”
Bitcoin Halving 2024
The Bitcoin network is all gearing up for a halving event scheduled next year in mid-2024. As per the current prediction, the Bitcoin halving could happen by mid-2024. As per historical trends, miners could continue to accumulate to realize a significant price appreciation post the halving event.
During a halving event, the number of new Bitcoins created per block is reduced by half, resulting in a decrease in the supply of new coins entering the market. Currently, each block rewards miners with 6.5 BTC. However, after the next halving, this block reward will be reduced to 3.25 BTC. As a result, approximately 450 BTC will be minted each day.
Historically, leading up to previous halvings, the price of Bitcoin reached its lowest point around 517 to 547 days before the halving. This pattern aligns with the recent market bottom for BTC on November 19. Considering the past halving cycles, the Bitcoin price continues to gain as the halving event approaches closer.
