Institutional Surge Puts Bitcoin on Track for Record High, Says Standard Chartered

Bitcoin’s rally shows no signs of slowing as institutional inflows accelerate, placing the leading cryptocurrency on a firm path toward fresh all-time highs, according to Standard Chartered.

In comments released Thursday, the bank noted that U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs have seen $5.3 billion in inflows over the past three weeks. Even after accounting for basis trades—where hedge funds arbitrage between futures and spot prices—the net inflow stands at more than $4 billion, signaling meaningful buying pressure from traditional investors.

Standard Chartered’s head of digital assets research, Geoff Kendrick, emphasized the impact of corporate and sovereign actors. MicroStrategy has expanded its bitcoin holdings to 555,450 BTC, nearly 2.6% of the asset’s capped supply. If the company follows through with its $84 billion capital raise, it could command over 6% of all future bitcoin in existence.

Further evidence of institutional adoption is expected with the upcoming 13F disclosures, Kendrick added. Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund already owns BlackRock’s IBIT ETF, while both the Swiss National Bank and Norway’s Norges Bank have taken positions in MicroStrategy stock.

Meanwhile, in a landmark move, New Hampshire has become the first U.S. state to pass legislation for a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve—signaling a shift in policy thinking around crypto’s role in state-level financial planning.

With all these developments, Standard Chartered says its earlier Q2 bitcoin price target of $120,000 may now be too conservative. The bank still sees a path to $200,000 by the end of the year.

At the time of publication, bitcoin was trading around $101,000.