Standard Chartered’s Kendrick Says Bitcoin Can Reclaim $100,000 This Year as Investors Should Accumulate [DAIF 2026]

Digital Asset Investment Insight Forum 2026

Geoff Kendrick, Standard Chartered Head of Digital Asset Research

Geoff Kendrick, Standard Chartered’s head of digital asset research, said investors should accumulate Bitcoin through staggered buying rather than panic-sell near the bottom. He argued that holders of U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds have largely kept their positions despite the recent price slump, raising the prospect of a market cycle that differs from past downturns.

Speaking at the Digital Asset Investment Insight Forum 2026 at the Conrad Seoul in Yeouido on July 2, Kendrick said Bitcoin fell from $126,000 in October last year to $59,000 this year. Even so, the drop was relatively limited compared with the 70% to 80% declines seen in previous cycles.

He cited U.S. spot ETFs as the main reason this selloff looks different from earlier ones. Past Bitcoin cycles were led mainly by retail investors, but this time pension funds and other long-term institutional money entered through ETFs. U.S. ETF holdings have remained broadly stable during this year’s correction, showing that ETF investors are continuing to hold with a medium- to long-term view rather than dumping positions on short-term weakness.

Kendrick also said recent ETF outflows should not be seen as a structural withdrawal from the market. He said much of the market viewed the selling over the past six weeks as tied to demand for cash to participate in SpaceX’s initial public offering. After the SpaceX IPO was completed, there was no clear sign of further outflows.

Kendrick said Bitcoin will recover to $100,000 by the end of this year. In the near term, $75,000 and $85,000 could serve as key resistance levels. If Bitcoin breaks above them, it could rebound to $100,000 by year-end. While some expect another decline in the fourth quarter, he said the chance of Bitcoin falling to $20,000 to $30,000 is close to zero. He also maintained his $500,000 Bitcoin target for 2030.

He also identified stablecoins and real-world asset tokenization as key growth drivers for the digital-asset market. Outstanding stablecoin supply currently stands at about $310 billion and could grow to $2 trillion by the end of 2028. Their use is expanding beyond crypto trading into savings tools in emerging markets, alternative payment channels outside traditional finance, foreign-exchange markets and payments by AI agents.

Kendrick said Ethereum’s role will grow in that process. A large share of stablecoin and tokenized-asset activity is taking place on the Ethereum blockchain. Just as BlackRock launched its tokenized money-market fund on Ethereum, traditional financial firms may also favor the network for its reliability and stability.

He said Ether could rise to $4,000 by the end of this year and to $40,000 by the end of 2030. While the token’s recent price performance has been weak, internal metrics including user numbers, transactions and use cases are improving. He compared the trend to Amazon in 2001, when the stock fell sharply even as internal indicators kept growing. In Ethereum’s case, fundamentals are moving ahead of price.

Kendrick also struck a positive tone on Solana. He said the blockchain is being reassessed for its low fees and fast transaction speeds rather than for an ecosystem once centered on memecoins. Solana is well suited to AI agent-based stablecoin trading and small-value, high-frequency payments, he said, adding that the token could rise to $135 by the end of this year.

He also said decentralized finance deserves renewed attention. As more assets move on-chain, the pool of capital used through decentralized exchanges such as Uniswap and other DeFi protocols could increase. On-chain assets combining stablecoins and tokenized assets could expand from about $340 billion now to $4 trillion by the end of 2028. If traditional financial firms take greater interest in DeFi, related protocols would have more room to grow.

Lee Young-min, Bloomingbit reporter / Cho Mi-hyun, Bloomingbit reporter