Bitcoin (BTC-USD) break above $100,000 has encouraged bulls on Wall Street.

After Trump’s election victory sparked a crypto rally on hopes that support for digital currencies and a friendlier regulatory regime would bolster the space, this week’s attempt to hit record highs above $103,000 per Bitcoin is prompting some strategists to consider another Doubling the price by the end of next year.

“We continue to believe that $100,000 is not the final milestone,” Bernstein analyst Gautam Chhugani wrote in a note on Thursday. “We expect Bitcoin to reach a cycle high of $200,000 in late 2025.”

Ghhugani noted that President-elect Donald Trump’s election of crypto advocate Paul Atkins as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as a broader regulatory focus under Trump 2.0, are “essentially positive” for the entire crypto industry.

After Bitcoin surpassed $100,000 for the first time, Trump took to social media to congratulate crypto investors, adding, “You’re welcome!!!”

“As cryptocurrencies become mainstream, they are likely to converge and transform capital markets and transform the way we provide financial services around the world,” Ghhugani wrote.

“Over the next decade, we expect Bitcoin to emerge as the premier store of value of the new era, eventually replacing gold and becoming a permanent part of institutional multi-asset allocation and a standard for corporate treasury management.” , he added.

Analysts at UK-based Standard Chartered noted that Bitcoin flows this year have been dominated by institutional investors. Institutions purchased 683,000 tokens through spot ETFs year to date, along with large purchases by software company and Bitcoin proxy MicroStrategy (MSTR).

About a third of these inflows, or the purchase of 245,000 Bitcoins, have occurred since the presidential election.

“In 2025, we expect institutional inflows to meet or exceed the 2024 pace,” wrote Geoff Kendrick, global head of digital assets research at Standard Chartered.

Kendrick expects global pension funds to increase their spot ETF holdings as expected regulatory changes from the Trump administration make it easier for traditional investors to increase their exposure to digital assets.

“With this in mind, we believe our end-2025 BTC price target of around $200,000 is achievable,” Kendrick wrote.

Bitcoin is up nearly 130% since the start of the year and about 45% since Trump won the White House in November. Investor optimism increased last month after the SEC announced that Chairman Gary Gensler will step down on January 20, 2025.

The story continues

And even before Atkins’ nomination was announced on Wednesday, Bitcoin bulls were confident that whoever Trump chooses to head the SEC would pursue crypto-friendly rules.

“It’s really a sea change from what was before, when the SEC and other authorities were frankly hostile to the crypto space,” said Mark Palmer, senior research analyst at Benchmark, Brian Sozzi, editor-in-chief of Yahoo Finance, during a recent Opening Bid podcast.

“We assume in our analysis that the price of Bitcoin will reach $225,000 by the end of 2026,” he said.

In the short term, Bitcoin bulls also see buying opportunities in the event of any setbacks in the coming weeks.

At the start of 2024, Fundstrat analysts called for a target of $115,000 by the end of the year.

“I think we’ll probably take this out in the next few weeks and maybe even work it up to $120,000,” Sean Farrell, head of digital asset strategy at Fundstrat, told Yahoo Finance on Thursday.

“I think there will be a lot of structural tailwinds next year for the cycle to continue.”

Ines Ferre is a senior business reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her to X @ines_ferre.

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