Major international bank, Standard Chartered, has revised its prediction for the price of Bitcoin for the next 18 months. While the bank is still predicting a price increase by the end of next year, it has changed its earlier projection of $100,000 per BTC and now estimates that Bitcoin could, in theory, reach $120,000 by the end of 2024.

The British bank believes the current increase in Bitcoin’s price would encourage miners to stockpile more BTC, further impacting its value.

“The rationale here is that as well as maintaining the bitcoin ledger, miners play a key role in determining net supply of newly mined BTC,” said Standard Chartered’s Geoff Kendrick, adding that “Increased miner profitability per BTC mined means they can sell less while maintaining cash inflows, reducing net BTC supply and pushing BTC prices higher.”

Standard Chartered’s optimistic outlook reflects rising confidence in Bitcoin’s performance and reinforces the belief by some that the crypto winter has come to an end.

But others are not so eager regarding miners’ profits, especially around the upcoming Bitcoin halving. Nearly half of Bitcoin miners aren’t operating as efficiently as they should be, which could cause problems after the next halving, according to Jaran Mellerud, a crypto mining analyst at Hashrate Index.

Indicating that these miners, along with others who do not own their mining rigs, are likely to be greatly impacted by the halving, he notes that about 40% of BTC miners run at a greater cost per kilowatt-hour than the anticipated post-halving break-even price.

Given the ongoing high costs for energy worldwide, there are concerns that more miners may need to forfeit their operations if they cannot source cheaper electricity.

Standard Chartered’s updated projection signals a 20% increase in their earlier $100,000 forecast, indicating solid expectations for Bitcoin’s future performance.

Bullish Outlook, But with a Caveat

Some also see the potential onboarding of major financial institutions like BlackRock and others who have applied for a Bitcoin ETF as a major driver for the price of BTC. However, the CEO of Trust Machines, Muneeb Ali, has a slightly different view about where the Bitcoin price is headed.

In an interview on CNBC’s Crypto World, Ali highlighted the significance of custody concerning any spot Bitcoin ETF. If companies like BlackRock can address custody issues and actively participate in the Bitcoin network, it would be significant since it shows genuine ownership of and relationship to the underlying asset.

This, in turn, sends a positive message to other conventional financial organizations. Because they view Bitcoin as an established and safe investment, this could encourage more organizations to investigate and experiment with it. Ultimately, it remains to be seen how these factors will influence the Bitcoin price; as for a Bitcoin ETF, the SEC has denied every single application so far.