Bernstein raises year-end Bitcoin price target to $90,000, predicts ‘slight’ halving impact for miners

Analysts at research and brokerage firm Bernstein raised their year-end price target for Bitcoin from $80,000 to $90,000 amid improving market dynamics.

Analysts ultimately expect Bitcoin to target $150,000. Cycle peak 2024-2025 Bitcoin BTC

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The upcoming halving event will have less impact on miners than before.

“Given the overall bull market conditions, including strong ETF inflows, low miner leverage, and robust network transaction fees, the impact of the halving on miners appears to be relatively minor as dollar returns ease,” Gautam Chhugani and Mahika Sapra wrote in a note to clients. .” he wrote. On Thursday.

Bitcoin’s next halving is estimated to occur on April 20, according to The Block’s Bitcoin Halving Countdown page. In this event, rewards for miners on the network will drop from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC per block, meaning that some mining operations may no longer be viable.

Previous Bitcoin network hashrate declines have been in the 15-20% range since the halving. However, analysts estimate miner closures will be lower this time around, with estimates of hashrate decline revised from 15% to around 7%, and the bull market supports the balance sheet.

More efficient Bitcoin miners will benefit.

Chhugani and Sapra expect this to benefit more efficient and cheaper miners like CleanSpark and Riot Platform the most, allowing them to gain relative market share after the halving.

Analysts expect Riot and CleanSpark to emerge as category leaders in this space as the largest miners with the most proprietary mining capacity. However, they also highlighted Marathon Digital’s potential given its own mining model and its shift toward a highly liquid position.

Bitcoin network hashrate and miner liquidity position. Image: Bernstein.

Investing in Bitcoin miners remains the best asset proxy for the cryptocurrency, according to analysts. The top three US-listed miners control approximately 10% of the total network hashrate and have a combined market capitalization of approximately $13 billion, with capacity scheduled to increase in 2024. /2025.

Bernstein rates CleanSpark and Riot stocks as outperformers, with price targets of $30 (48% upside) and $22 (77% upside), respectively. Analysts gave Marathon a Market Perform rating, targeting $23, or an upside of 3%.

Bitcoin vs Bitcoin Miners. Image: Bernstein.

‘Opportunity to buy low’

Bernstein analysts said Tuesday that Bitcoin’s $10,000 decline from its recent all-time high of more than $73,000 to less than $63,000 represents a temporary “low buying opportunity” ahead of the halving.

“We expect markets to consolidate prior to the halving and the overall bull market to continue thereafter,” they said.

As of this writing, Bitcoin is trading at $66,845, according to The Block’s price page. The cryptocurrency is up 5% in the last 24 hours but is down 6.5% over the past week, putting it up about 58% since the start of the year.

BTC/USD price chart. Image: Block/TradingView.

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