Bitcoin’s blue-chip coverage just turned decisively bullish. Within hours of each other on October 2, JPMorgan and Citi outlined upside paths that put six-figure levels squarely on the 12-month horizon, framing the next phase of the cycle around volatility normalization versus gold and sustained institutional demand.
The analyst of the banking giant added: By taking into account this volatility ratio, which implies that BTC currently consumes 1.85 times more risk capital than gold, then mechanically the market cap of bitcoin at $2.3tr currently would have to rise by close to 42% (implying a theoretical bitcoin price of $165k), to match on a vol-adjusted basis the around $6tr of total private sector investment in gold via ETFs or bars and coins…This mechanical exercise thus could imply significant upside for bitcoin.”
For ether, the bank mapped $5,400 (base), $7,300 (bull) and $2,000 (bear). An accompanying near-term update maintained year-end forecasts around $132,000 for BTC and $4,500 for ETH while transitioning coverage to 12-month goals.
Notably, the bank is significantly more bullish on bitcoin than ether: “We are more positive on Bitcoin compared to Ether, as it captures an outsized portion of incremental flows into crypto markets. There is inherent uncertainty reflected in the bull and bear cases based on transparent assumptions around investor-demand and user activity where the extent of value accrual to ETH adds another layer of uncertainty.”
At press time, BTC traded at $119,833.
