Standard Chartered, the TradFi giant that usually plays it safe, just dropped a hot take on crypto — and it’s all about Avalanche (AVAX).
According to Geoff Kendrick, head of Digital Assets Research over at SCB, AVAX is apparently set to outperform Bitcoin and Ethereum over the next few years. Bold, right?
Here’s the forecast:
- $55 by 2025
- $100 by 2026
- $150 by 2027
- $200 by 2028
- And a cool $250 by 2029
Yes, $250 AVAX. From a TradFi bank. Wild.
Why the Hype? Subnets. Lots of Subnets.
Kendrick’s bullishness mostly comes down to one thing: subnets.
Avalanche has this unique architecture that lets projects spin up their own customizable sidechains — kinda like modular blockchains that live under the main AVAX umbrella. Kendrick says this is where Avalanche beats Ethereum or Solana.
“It’s still early, but a quarter of active subnets are already Etna-compatible,” he wrote.
Translation: they’re seeing traction. Maybe not at scale yet, but enough to get the bank’s attention.
Crypto Twitter? Not Fully Buying It.
As expected, CT is divided.
Some folks are hyped. Others? Not so much.
“Lmao… a TradFi bank making altcoin predictions 5 years out? That’s rich.”
“Standard Chartered out here trying to front-run CT with hopium takes now?”
“$AVAX might have upside, sure — but outperform $BTC by 2029? Seen that movie before. Doesn’t end well.”
So yeah… mixed vibes. But that’s nothing new.
Meanwhile, AVAX Price Ain’t Looking Too Hot
Despite all the bullish talk, AVAX has dropped 14.8% over the past week. At the time of writing, it’s hovering around $18.78 — not exactly mooning.
That said, trading volume has surged 69% in the past 24 hours, hitting $534 million. So people are watching. Something’s definitely brewing under the surface.
Grayscale Wants In, Too
Just to add fuel to the fire: Grayscale, the biggest name in crypto asset management, just filed for an AVAX ETF with Nasdaq.
Yeah. A whole ETF, built around Avalanche.
They mentioned its low fees, near-instant finality, and “enterprise-friendly” customization as the main selling points. This is Layer 1 infrastructure — but with a focus on compliance-ready tooling for big players.
If approved, the ETF would hold actual AVAX tokens, and Grayscale would charge a 2.5% fee. Other firms, like VanEck, are also throwing their hats in the Avalanche ring.
