Standard Chartered Declares Crypto Winter Over, Sets $100 UNI Price Target for 2030

Standard Chartered's Geoffrey Kendrick has declared the "crypto winter" over, citing a Bitcoin cycle low of $59,000. The call is supported by renewed institutional buying from Strategy, a return to positive Bitcoin ETF inflows, and easing macro pressures. The bank also initiated coverage on Uniswap (UNI) with a $100 price target for 2030, projecting that decentralized finance (DeFi) will grow to $2.7 trillion, driven by the tokenization of real-world assets.

Crypto winter declaration

• ▪Standard Chartered analyst Geoffrey Kendrick declared that the "crypto winter is over" and "crypto spring" has begun
• ▪Geoffrey Kendrick believes the market cycle low for Bitcoin was reached at approximately $59,000 on June 5, 2026

Market catalysts

• ▪The positive market outlook is partly based on easing macro pressures, such as a potential US-Iran peace deal capping oil prices
• ▪The bank's Uniswap forecast is tied to a projection that total value locked in decentralized finance (DeFi) will grow 37-fold to $2.7 trillion by 2030
• ▪Standard Chartered initiated coverage on Uniswap (UNI) with a price forecast of $100 by the end of 2030
• ▪Structural pressures on Bitcoin have eased as heavy selling of Bitcoin ETFs, potentially to fund participation in the SpaceX IPO, has concluded

Leverage reset signals

• ▪The flushing of excess leverage is a condition that typically allows a market recovery to begin
• ▪Market data indicates excess leverage has been flushed, with average funding rates at negative 3.9% and a collapse in open interest

Sentiment capitulation indicators

• ▪The Fear and Greed Index, a sentiment metric, reads near 20, a level described as "extreme fear" that often clusters near market lows
• ▪The state of maximum pessimism indicated by the Fear and Greed Index has often marked moments of maximum opportunity in the market

Institutional buying activity

• ▪Strategy's purchase on June 15 followed a 1,550 BTC buy the previous week, signaling renewed corporate buying
• ▪Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) purchased 1,587 BTC for $100 million at an average price of $63,024 on June 15, 2026
• ▪After a period of outflows, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs saw a return to net inflows, with $85.84 million entering the funds on June 12 and June 15, 2026

Valuation metrics holdout

• ▪The current Bitcoin price drawdown of 46.9% from its high is shallower than the 75% to 85% falls that ended past crypto winters
• ▪Bitcoin's price remains below its 200-day moving average, a key technical line that separates a bull regime from a bear one
• ▪A key valuation metric, the Mayer Multiple, sits at 0.85, which is below the neutral 1.0 but above the 0.8 level that marks a deep crypto winter