'Winter Is Over': Standard Chartered Calls Crypto Bottom as Bitcoin Recovers From $60K Fall

The crypto market has taken a heavy beating since Bitcoin notched all-time highs eight months ago, though it's likely past its nadir, according to Standard Chartered's Geoff Kendrick. The investment bank's global head of digital asset research posited in a Friday note that Bitcoin's recent fall to nearly $59,000 marked crypto winter's most frigid conditions.

Representing a 53% drawdown from Bitcoin's peak price of $126,000 in October 2025, the drop had investors questioning when — or if — the market would recover. Kendrick's answer is clear: "I think we have now seen the low in crypto asset prices," he wrote. "Winter is over."

Catalysts for a Turnaround

Kendrick pointed to several developments shaping up as catalysts for a crypto market that has proved tepid in recent months. Chief among them is a potential peace deal between the U.S. and Iran ahead of next week's G7 summit. Since war in the Middle East began choking global oil supplies, surging energy costs have coaxed U.S. Treasury yields higher, punishing risk assets like crypto as guaranteed, risk-free government debt has become relatively attractive.

President Trump has claimed numerous times that the U.S. and Iran are close to establishing an arrangement that would signal an end to the three-month conflict. He announced on Thursday that a breakthrough could come this weekend, per AP News. "If true, [it] may sound the end to higher oil prices," Kendrick wrote. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.5% on Friday to $86 per barrel.

SpaceX's historic $1.75 trillion IPO also acted as a significant market catalyst. Interestingly, Kendrick argued that some of the selling in Bitcoin ETFs likely stems from investors looking to hitch a ride on Elon Musk's rocket company — "selling to free up cash to enter the IPO."

What Confirmation Looks Like

Bitcoin recently changed hands above $64,000, a 5% increase over the past week, according to CoinGecko. The total value of all cryptocurrencies tracked by CoinGecko edged up to $2.3 trillion. However, exchange-traded funds that track Bitcoin have posted roughly $5 billion in net outflows since mid-May, according to CoinGlass — some of the sharpest selling "since inception," Kendrick noted.

Kendrick wrote that his call requires some signs of confirmation: net inflows for Bitcoin ETFs on Friday, a continued decline in oil prices, and an announcement from Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) on Monday that the Bitcoin-buying firm expanded its holdings. Standard Chartered issued a $100,000 price target for Bitcoin back in February.

"I think we have now seen the low in crypto asset prices. Winter is over." — Geoff Kendrick, Standard Chartered

Source: Decrypt / CoinDesk / Reuters