Citi 'Cuts Bitcoin and Ethereum Price Targets'…Reflecting Delay in US CLARITY Act

Global investment bank Citigroup has lowered its 12-month price targets for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). The revision reflects delays in US crypto legislation, slowing ETF inflows, and weakening on-chain activity.

According to crypto-focused media outlet CoinDesk on the 17th, Citi cut Bitcoin’s 12-month target to $112,000 from $143,000, and lowered Ethereum’s to $3,175 from $4,304.

Citi said ETF inflows remain a key driver of upside, but explained it has revised down its 12-month demand outlook to $10 billion for Bitcoin and $2.5 billion for Ethereum.

The report said delays in US crypto legislation are emerging as a major variable. In particular, the market-structure bill known as the CLARITY Act has passed the House, but with Senate deliberations delayed, the likelihood of passage within the year was assessed to have fallen to around 60%.

Citi emphasized the bill as a key factor that would spur institutional inflows by clarifying classification standards for crypto assets and identifying the relevant regulators. It added that if regulatory uncertainty is not resolved, constraints could remain on expanding institutional demand.

On market dynamics, Citi said, “Bitcoin’s upside momentum has slowed since last year’s peak, and it is trading below key technical support levels.” It added, “Ethereum is also showing relatively weak performance, affected by softer on-chain activity.”

Still, it said even under its base case there remains upside from current prices. For Bitcoin, Citi presented a bull-case target of $165,000 and a bear-case target of $58,000; for Ethereum, it projected $4,488 and $1,198, respectively.

Citi said, “Whether institutional demand expands and the US regulatory environment are key variables that will determine the market’s direction going forward,” adding that regulatory progress related to stablecoin growth, tokenization, and decentralized finance (DeFi) could be a potential catalyst for a recovery in Ethereum demand.