Bernstein maintains $150K Bitcoin prediction despite ‘short-term pause’ caused by ETF flows

Research
and
brokerage
firm
Bernstein
recently
released
a
note
specifying
and
maintaining
its
bullish
outlook
for
Bitcoin
despite
the
recent
slowdown
in
spot
Bitcoin
exchange-traded
fund
(ETF)
flows.

In
a
note
to
clients
on
Monday,
Gautam
Chhugani
and
Mahika
Sapra
described
the
trend
as
a
“short-term
pause”
and
maintained
their
$150,000
price
target
for
Bitcoin
by
the
end
of
2025.

The
analysts
attribute
the
slowing
ETF
flows
to
the
“halving”
catalyst
and
successful
ETF
launch,
which
pulled
forward
Bitcoin’s
year-to-date
returns
to
46%.

However,
they
expect
the
slowdown
to
be
temporary,
believing
that

ETFs
will
become
more
integrated
with
private
bank
platforms,
wealth
advisors,
and
brokerage
platforms
over
time.

Chhugani
and
Sapra
cited
the
$12
billion
of
spot
Bitcoin
ETF
net
inflows
to
date
and
the
healthy
position
of
leading
Bitcoin
miners
post-halving
as
factors
supporting
their
$150,000
price
target.

The
analysts
noted
that
Bitcoin
has
been
trading
in
the
$62,000
to
$72,000
range
since
late
February,
with
no
clear
momentum
on
either
side.
They
remain
unfazed
by
the
slowdown
and
reiterate
their
expectation
that
the
total
crypto
market
cap
will
triple
to
$7.5
trillion
over
the
next
18
to
24
months.

Image
source:


Bernstein
Research

Regarding
Ethereum,
the
analysts
suggested
that
potential

denials
of
spot
Ethereum
ETFs
by
the
SEC
could
be
bullish
for
ether.

Bernstein
analysts
believe
that
any
denial
based
on
the
grounds
of
unreliable
correlation
between
spot
and
futures
markets
would
likely
be
disproved
in
court,
similar
to
the
Grayscale
Bitcoin
ETF
case.

Alternatively,
if
the
SEC
denies
on
the
basis
of
ether
being
a
security,
it
would
create
an
awkward
situation
with
the
Commodity
Futures
Trading
Commission
(CFTC)
and
the
Chicago
Mercantile
Exchange
(CME),
which
already
trades
ether
futures
without
any
securities
implications.

The
analysts
see
ether
staking
via
Lido
as
a
high-beta
opportunity
and
expect
the
potential
launch
of
the
Eigen
token
to
further
incentivize
and
accelerate
the
adoption
of
the
crypto
niche.

Beyond
Bitcoin
and
Ethereum,
the
Bernstein
analysts
highlighted
several
other
crypto
niches
and
projects
with
significant
growth
potential,
including
Solana’s
growing
dominance
in
crypto
payments,
Uniswap,
GMX,
and
Synthetix
as
the
best
DeFi
sector
proxies;
the
Ronin
blockchain
as
a
crypto
gaming
proxy,
and
Chainlink’s
data
oracle
and
tokenization
platform
as
a
key
part
of
the
growing
real-world
asset
market
infrastructure.