Citigroup cuts targets for BTC and ETH amid slowdown in US regulatory decisions

Citigroup experts have revised their forecasts for the major cryptocurrencies, lowering the 12-month target levels for Bitcoin BTC $69,688.18 Mezo Wrapped BTC -4.10% Market capitalization $38.75 million VOL. 24 hours $1.83 billion and Ethereum ETH $2,161.17 Bridged Ether (StarkGate) -4.33% Market capitalization $42.98 million VOL. 24 hours $1.17 billion . The reason was delays in the adoption of cryptocurrency legislation in the United States, which, according to the bank, weakens one of the key market drivers.

According to the new estimates, Bitcoin is expected to reach $ 112,000 instead of the previous $ 143,000, and Ethereum — $ 3,175 instead of $ 4,304. Citi explains that the main factor for the crypto market is still flows into ETFs, but the forecast has become more cautious: the expected demand through exchange-traded funds has been reduced to $ 10 billion for Bitcoin and $ 2.5 billion for Ethereum.

The bank also drew attention to the regulatory factor. According to Citi, the chances of passing key cryptocurrency regulations in the United States this year have dropped to about 60%. This narrows the political window for new decisions and weakens one of the main positive scenarios for digital assets.

Analysts also noted weaker fundamental signals in the market itself. In the case of Ethereum, it is a sluggish network activity that makes the asset more sensitive to a slowdown in demand. At the same time, Citi does not completely abandon the positive scenario: in the event of a more favorable market environment, the bank allows higher levels for both assets.