Standard Chartered Maintains 100,000-Dollar Bitcoin Price Target by 2026

Standard Chartered has retained its $100,000 Bitcoin price forecast for late 2026. According to blockchain media Coin Post, the bank views short-term selling by its strategy unit as noise rather than a trend reversal. Jeffery Kendrick, head of digital assets research at Standard Chartered, sees Bitcoin's current price of around $64,000 as a buying opportunity. The strategy unit sold 3588 BTC at approximately $216 million between June 29 and July 5, 2023, marking its largest-ever sale. Proceeds were allocated to permanent preferred dividend payments and reserve replenishment. The unit now holds 843,775 BTC, representing over 4% of Bitcoin's total supply of 21 million coins. Total cost basis amounts to $6.37 billion, but current market value is around $5.4 billion, with over $830 million in quarterly impairment losses. The traditional accumulation model has weakened, as the unit previously bought Bitcoin through stock issuance when the modified NAV (mNAV) metric exceeded 1.0. However, mNAV has fallen to around 1.0, disrupting this approach. The unit is now shifting toward using Bitcoin holdings as collateral for its perpetual preferred stock STRC, which pays 12% cash dividends. STRC's value has fluctuated significantly since its June 1 sale announcement, trading around $90. Financial industry perspectives on the sale are divided, with JPMorgan citing increased market risk from both buying and selling activities, while Grayscale argues the sale could lead to more sustainable market bottoms.