Standard Chartered Cuts XRP Price Target by 65% After February Crypto Sell-Off

• Standard Chartered has slashed its end-of-year prediction for XRP from $8 to $2.8 amid a wider market selloff.
• Prediction for Bitcoin has dropped to $100,000, with Ethereum and Solana down to $4,000 and $135.

In the past 30 days, the crypto market has shed nearly $900 billion in overall market cap with macro shocks, weakening global demand and rotation of capital to AI and safe-haven assets all playing a part. This bear market has led to Standard Chartered revising its end-of-year price predictions for major cryptos, with XRP now expected to only hit a third of the original projected price. At the start of the year, StanChart predicted that XRP would end the year above $8. At the time, the crypto was soaring. In the first week, it surged from $1.87 to $2.3, with daily users and ETF inflows also hitting new heights. As CNF reported, XRP even flipped BNB to become the fourth most valuable crypto (a position it has maintained despite the crash that would follow). However, the market has flipped since then. XRP is changing hands at** $1.46**, trading sideways in the past day, with trading volume dropping 39% to $2.75 billion. In the past month, it has lost 29%. In light of this performance, Standard Chartered has revised its prediction from $8 to $2.80 in a note to investors shared with media outlets. Geoffrey Kendrick, who heads the bank’s digital asset research division, commented:

Recent price action for digital assets has been challenging, to say the least. We expect further declines near-term and we lower our forecasts across the asset class.

The prediction contrasts with Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse who earlier this year predicted that XRP and most cryptos would record new all-time highs this year. Standard Chartered Cuts BTC, ETH Predictions Standard Chartered also downgraded its predictions for Bitcoin and Ethereum. Initially, the bank expected BTC to hit $150,000 by the end of the year, having started the year just below $90,000. But just like XRP, the top crypto has been on a downtrend since mid-January, briefly dipping to a low of $62,700, its lowest price in over 15 months. In the past month, it has shed 28.5% to trade at $68,000 at press time. StanChart now expects the top coin to hit a yearly high of $100,000. With Ethereum, the prediction has been slashed from $7,000 to $4,000, while Solana’s has dropped from $250 to $135. However, the bank sees an upside for XRP and ETH, with Kendrick stating:

We see XRP keeping pace with ETH. Both are likely to benefit from the further development of stablecoins and tokenised real-world assets.

XRP is expanding its tokenization sector as more institutions seeks alternatives to the dominant Ethereum blockchain. Two weeks ago, Ripple announced that Dubai-based Billiton would tokenize $280 million worth of diamonds on the XRP Ledger. Most recently, Ripple partnered with Aviva Investors to tokenize traditional funds on XRPL in the first partnership of its kind in Europe, as CNF reported.