Bitcoin bottomed last year and the crypto could hit $148,000 by 2025, research firm says

• Bitcoin could soar to $148,000 by 2025 after the next halving cycle, Pantera Capital said.
• In a recent note, the research firm said the token could have already seen its bottom in 2022.

Bitcoin could surge to almost five times its current price by 2025 after its halving cycle commences next year, according to research group Pantera Capital.

In a Tuesday note, analysts at the firm maintained their bullish outlook for the world's largest crypto by market cap, and said historical trends suggest plenty of upside ahead.

"Bitcoin has historically bottomed 477 days prior to the halving, climbed leading into it, and then exploded to the upside afterwards," Pantera Capital wrote. "The post-halving rallies have averaged 480 days – from the halving to the peak of that next bull cycle."

By those measures, the strategists said bitcoin should have bottomed already, back in December 2022.

Halving, which happens every four years for bitcoin, is when crypto miners' reward is cut in half to create a scarcity effect, according to the original whitepaper by Satoshi Nakamoto.

In April 2024, the next expected halving date, miners' rewards will drop from 6.25 bitcoin per block to 3.125.

"If history were to repeat itself," the researchers said, "the next halving would see bitcoin rising to $35k before the halving and $148k after."

Bitcoin has rallied more than 56% in 2023, though it is down about 10% in the last month.

Pantera Capital isn't alone in its upbeat forecast. Joe Kelly, the cofounder and CEO of financial services company Unchained, also sees steep upside for bitcoin after the halving process. He pointed out in a recent note that 12 months after the 2012, 2016, and 2020 halvings, bitcoin was up 8,069%, 284%, and 559%, respectively.

"Taking a conservative view," Kelly wrote, "if bitcoin stays around $30K until the halving, even a 12-month post-halving increase of 250% — which, again, is conservative relative to previous halvings — would price bitcoin at $105K."