Why a top crypto analyst sees bitcoin hitting $130,000 by March

• Bitcoin could hit fresh records within the week, Standard Chartered said.
• Headwinds related to uncertainties facing the token are clearing, the bank wrote.
• Developments outside the US could push bitcoin to $130,000 by March.

Bitcoin's next all-time high may be just days away.

Standard Chartered analyst Geoff Kendrick said the flagship crypto token looks set to surpass its $109,000 price record within the next week, and between February and March, its price could reach as high as $130,000.

Cryptocurrency prices have wavered after Donald Trump's inauguration, a day that investors hoped would bring a flurry of crypto-friendly annoucnements. Excessive bullishness prompted Kendrick to warn about a looming correction, and though Trump did sign a crypto executive order last week, Kendrick didn't think it satisfied industry expectations.

But with the order now out and the Federal Reserve holding interest rates steady, uncertainties that have been generating headwinds for the crypto have ebbed, the banks' global head of digital assets research said.

Even Monday's massive equity wipeout offers bitcoin a silver lining, clearing a path toward growth. After a new, cost-effective AI tool was announced by a Chinese startup, US tech stocks plunged. The fiasco liquidated $1.1 billion of long bitcoin positions on futures exchanges over a few days, though the crypto market largely withstood the sell-off.

"Market positioning is a lot cleaner as a result, and for what it's worth, if cheaper AI lowers inflation (at the margin), then risk assets, like BTC, that have nothing to do with AI should benefit," he said.

With risks fading for now, momentum looks to be building again for bitcoin.

Although Trump's order may have disappointed those who had been hoping for the announcement of a national bitcoin reserve, other countries may be coming around to the idea.

According to the Financial Times, the Czech National Bank could eventually convert 5% of its €140 billion in reserves into bitcoin, if a plan presented Thursday by central bank governor Aleš Michl is approved.

"At current prices this would see the CNB hold 69,000 BTC. The current largest proactive (and known) official holding is El Salvador with 6,049 BTC," Kendrick calculated.

He added that the Swiss National Bank also appears to be moving toward embracing bitcoin, with Swiss campaigners collecting signatures to force a vote on the issue. This may take a while, but the move is important — Swiss reserves are six times as large as those in the Czech Republic, Kendrick said.

Bullish crypto players have predicted that the creation of a bitcoin reserve in the US would trigger other countries to create their own, significantly bolstering the token's price. While Trump did not move to create one in the US, his order does make room to set up a "stockpile," meaning that the US may hold onto the 207,000 bitcoin it already holds.

Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Commission's removal of Staff Accounting Bulletin 121 will to boost institutional demand for the digital asset. The unpopular rule effectively discouraged US lenders from acting as crypto custodians.

Institutional buying is the underlying tailwind driving Kendrick's outlook on bitcoin. The analyst holds a $200,000 year-end target for bitcoin.