Bitcoin will climb to $143,000, according to this Wall Street forecast

By Steve Goldstein

Bitcoin is forecast by Citi to reach $143,000 next year.

Bitcoin will rally to $143,000 next year as investors continue to increase digital asset adoption through exchange-traded funds, according to a new Wall Street forecast.

Analysts at Citi said the $143,000 level is their base case for bitcoin's price, with a bull model north of $189,000 and a bear estimate of around $78,500.

Bitcoin (BTCUSD) on Friday was trading around $89,000 - down about 30% from its late October peak.

While bitcoin ETFs saw large outflows after the recent peak, those flows have calmed recently.

"Our forecasts, in particular for bitcoin, rest on an assumption that investor adoption continues with flows into ETFs of $15 billion boosting token prices," said analysts led by Alex Saunders, head of global quant macro strategy at the bank.

The U.S. Senate is negotiating its version of the House-passed Clarity Act, which would have bitcoin regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The analysts say this will help spur adoption.

The bear case is based on recessionary macro-factors, according to the analysts.

Analysts see less upside in Ethereum (ETHUSD). "ETH is sensitive to activity given its potential use as programmable money rather than Bitcoin's 'store-of-value' narrative and activity has declined significantly," they noted, with a $4,300 base case. It was trading on Friday at $2,959.

-Steve Goldstein

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12-19-25 0911ET