Standard Chartered made the bold call on July 10, saying bitcoin could see the huge valuation by the end of next year because of increased mining profitability

The world’s biggest crypto currency has slumped around 20 per cent since Standard Chartered forecasted it could reach $120,000 in 2024.

The bank made the bold call on July 10, saying bitcoin could see the huge valuation by the end of next year because of increased mining profitability. That means miners can sell lesser tokens to keep the same amount of cash flow, reducing bitcoin supply and raising prices, Standard Chartered analyst Geoff Kendrick told Insider at the time.

Fundstrat’s Tom Lee made an even more bullish forecast around the same time, predicting bitcoin to reach $200,000 over the next few years.

But the crypto currency has found the going rough since those forecasts. It dropped over 11 per cent in August, declining for a second month in a row amid a wider sell-off in stocks and bonds.

In the meantime, a Securities and Exchange Commission announcement that it would delay deciding on all spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund applications until October weighed on the broader crypto sector.

Bitcoin traded nearly $25,762 at one point on Thursday.

The token’s latest declines come after a rally of nearly 80 per cent in the first half of the year. It is still over 55 per cent higher YTD in spite of August’s losses.

With bitcoin’s halving event approaching in April next year, analysts are nonetheless bullish about the token.

Taking a conservative view, Joe Kelly, cofounder and Chief Executive Officer of Unchained, stated in a note, if bitcoin stays near $30,000 until the halving, even a 12-month post-halving rise of 250 per cent — which, again, is conservative compared to earlier halvings — would price bitcoin at $105,000.