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It was so close to breaking above six figures, but now Bitcoin is trading below $94,000 per coin after last week closing in fast on the magical $100,000 mark.
And it still has room to drop further, according to British multinational bank Standard Chartered.
The firm’s digital assets researcher Geoff Kendrick wrote Tuesday that more pain is to come and the biggest coin will drop to as low as $88,700. The reason? The new Treasury secretary.
“I think the catalyst yesterday [for Bitcoin’s price decline] was a post Bessent announcement (for Treasury) reduction in U.S. Treasury term premium,” he wrote. U.S. treasuries have rallied on Donald Trump’s pick of Scott Bessent for the U.S. Treasury secretary, with yields dropping by more than 10 basis points across five- to 30-year maturities.
Kendrick added that in the short term, Bitcoin’s rally could slow because “one of [Bitcoin’s] core uses is to hedge against [traditional finance] issues (banking sector related or Treasury related).”
Hedge fund manager Bessent is considered a fiscal conservative by Wall Street, which could mean more sensible monetary policy—especially when it comes to tariffs. President-elect Donald Trump had promised an aggressive policy of tariffs, or taxes on imports. American treasuries had retreated as tariffs often lead to higher inflation, according to economists.
But Bessent is expected by many market analysts to tame Trump’s policy, leading to the rebound in Treasuries.
The biggest digital asset by market cap is typically seen as a hedge against bad government monetary policy and inflation. But with U.S. treasuries rallying, investors are—at least for now—liking what they see in traditional financial markets.
Bitcoin was on a wild run following Donald Trump’s shock election victory on November 5, hitting a new all-time high of $99,645 last week. This is in contrast to BTC trading below $70,000 on election night, before it was clear Trump would win.
The Republican ex-President won the popular vote and scooped up all the swing states. Now, investors are bullish: the real estate mogul has promised deregulation, tax cuts, and to help the digital asset industry.
But it stopped short of $100,000 and has dropped fast this week.
Still, it will continue to rise in the long-term, added Kendrick. He predicted that Bitcoin touching $125,000 per coin by the end of this year and a target of $200,000 by the end of 2025 is still very possible.