Avalanche Poised to Surge and Outperform Bitcoin by the End of 2029, According to Standard Chartered

Standard Chartered anticipates that Bitcoin’s price could increase fivefold by the end of 2029, but the multinational bank points to an altcoin that may significantly outperform it.

According to an April report from the bank, the utility token of Layer-1 blockchain Avalanche, AVAX, could soar to $250 by the decade’s end—a staggering 1,326% increase from its current price.

In contrast, Standard Chartered predicts that Bitcoin will see an almost 500% rise, reaching $500,000 by the end of 2029.

Currently, AVAX is trading around $18, whereas Bitcoin’s price is approximately $82,650, as per data from CoinGecko.

Geoff Kendrick, global head of digital assets research at Standard Chartered, noted that Avalanche’s innovative scaling strategy, which utilizes dedicated L1 app networks (previously known as subnets), is likely to fuel the anticipated price surge.

“Avalanche’s relatively small market cap allows for significant effects from minor developmental advancements,” Kendrick stated in the report. “As a result, we believe AVAX will outperform both Bitcoin and Ethereum in terms of relative price increases.”

Avalanche is among various blockchains aiming to enhance transaction speeds and reduce costs to attract more users and developers.

Regarded as the Wild West of the crypto world, the DeFi (decentralized finance) sector draws significantly fewer users compared to centralized platforms, resulting in intense competition among protocols.

In December, Avalanche completed its Etna Upgrade, which enhanced support for its scaling solution and reduced the cost of engaging with the network. Following this upgrade, the expenses associated with establishing an L1 on Avalanche fell significantly. Kendrick believes that this influx of developers migrating to Avalanche will likely continue.

“We expect the current positive development trends to persist, bolstering activity growth on Avalanche and driving gains in the price of AVAX,” Kendrick noted.

He also mentioned that “although it’s still early to assess whether the new [L1] approach will be effective… the fact that one-quarter of active [L1s] are already compatible with Etna is promising.”

Standard Chartered foresees favorable price movements for AVAX within this year, estimating that the token could reach $55 by the end of 2025. The bank’s projections suggest the token will hit $100 in 2026, $150 in 2027, and $200 in 2028.

AVAX reached a peak price of nearly $145 in 2021 and is currently about 88% below that peak.

Edited by James Rubin