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Standard Chartered slashes Bitcoin price targets as ETF holders sitting on losses show no signs of buying back in. The bank sees BTC falling to $50,000 before any meaningful recovery takes hold.
Investment bank Standard Chartered has lowered its short-term and full-year crypto forecasts, citing sustained downside risk from ETF outflows and challenging macro conditions pressuring digital assets.
The bank now expects Bitcoin to slide toward $50,000 in the coming months, while Ethereum could bottom near $1,400. At publication time, BTC traded around $67,900, and ETH hovered near $1,980.
ETF Investors Face Mounting Losses
Geoff Kendrick, Standard Chartered's head of digital assets research, warned that the recent selloff could extend as ETF investors holding unrealized losses are more inclined to exit positions than accumulate during dips.
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Holdings in Bitcoin ETFs have declined by nearly 100,000 BTC from their October 2025 peak, according to CoinDesk. The average ETF purchase price sits around $90,000, leaving many investors nursing roughly 25% losses.
Once prices establish a bottom, Kendrick expects a recovery through the remainder of 2026. The bank reduced its year-end target for Bitcoin to $100,000 from $150,000, Ethereum to $4,000 from $7,500, Solana to $135 from $250, BNB Chain to $1,050 from $1,755, and Avalanche to $18 from $100.
Macro Headwinds Strengthen
The crypto market has weakened sharply in early 2026, with Bitcoin dropping almost 23% since the start of the year. Major assets have slid significantly from late-2025 highs, with total market cap declining over recent weeks.
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Heightened volatility, large liquidations of leveraged positions, and broad risk-off sentiment have characterized the downturn. Crypto has correlated more closely with weakening equity markets as macro pressures mount.
Concerns about global growth and interest-rate outlooks have pushed investors toward traditional havens like gold. Stalled regulatory clarity, particularly in the U.S., and liquidity strains at some institutions have weighed on confidence.
Drawdown Less Severe Than Previous Cycles
Kendrick noted that while U.S. economic data show signs of softening, markets expect no interest-rate cuts before Kevin Warsh's first Federal Open Market Committee meeting as Federal Reserve chair in mid-June. This limits near-term support for risk assets.
Despite the expected capitulation, Standard Chartered said the current drawdown remains less severe than previous cycles. At its worst point in early February, Bitcoin was down about 50% from its October 2025 all-time high, with roughly half of supply remaining in profit.
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Crucially, this cycle has not witnessed the collapse of major crypto platforms, unlike 2022's failures of Terra/Luna and FTX. Kendrick suggested this indicates the asset class is maturing and becoming more resilient.
Long-Term Outlook Unchanged
The bank left its longer-term projections unchanged, maintaining end-2030 targets of $500,000 for Bitcoin and $40,000 for Ethereum. Kendrick argued that usage trends and structural drivers remain intact despite near-term turbulence.
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Combined pressures from reduced trading revenues for crypto-exposed firms and bearish sentiment across many tokens have led to widespread weakness. However, Standard Chartered maintains a constructive view on the asset class over the longer term.
3 Key Takeaways:
Standard Chartered forecasts Bitcoin falling to $50K with Ethereum dropping to $1.4K amid sustained ETF outflowsETF holders face 25% unrealized losses with average purchase price at $90K as nearly 100K BTC withdrawn since peakBank maintains end-2030 targets at $500K for Bitcoin despite slashing 2026 forecast to $100K from prior $150K

This Article First Appeared on: https://www.cryptonewslive.org/article/bitcoin-eyes-50k-drop-as-etf-outflows-intensify

SWIFT has announced it will add a blockchain-based shared ledger to its core technology infrastructure — a seismic shift for the global payments network that connects over 11,000 financial institutions across more than 200 countries.
The announcement came at Sibos 2025 in Frankfurt, where SWIFT CEO Javier Pérez-Tasso told attendees the network is ready to bridge traditional finance and decentralised technology. According to SWIFT's official announcement, the ledger will enable real-time, always-on transactions and is being developed alongside more than 30 global financial institutions from 16 countries.
The Ledger That Changes Everything
The blockchain-based shared ledger will record, sequence, and validate transactions while enforcing rules through smart contracts. SWIFT is starting with a conceptual prototype built with Consensys, focused squarely on real-time, 24/7 cross-border payments.
"I'm very pleased to announce that we will add a blockchain-based ledger to our technology infrastructure to allow for trusted movement of tokenised value across the digital ecosystems," Pérez-Tasso said, adding that the ledger will be built for interoperability with both existing and emerging networks.
The move positions SWIFT not as a legacy holdout, but as an active builder of the next financial layer. The network's trusted identity, governance, and compliance frameworks will be embedded directly into the ledger from day one — a design choice that separates this from most public blockchain deployments.
HSBC Is in the Room — And So Is Ripple
Here is where it gets more interesting. According to @swiftcommunity on X, HSBC is among the global banks actively collaborating with SWIFT to shape the design of this blockchain ledger for cross-border payments and tokenised value.
HSBC's involvement goes deeper than a design seat at the table. As @ChartNerdTA noted on X:
"HSBC is using Ripple-acquired Metaco's Harmonize platform to provide tokenized securities. HSBC also works on HKMA's Project Ensemble, a field where Ripple is a key technology provider (e-HKD)."
Ripple acquired Metaco — the institutional digital asset custody firm — in 2023. That means HSBC, now a named co-designer of SWIFT's blockchain ledger, already runs infrastructure built on Ripple technology. The overlap is hard to ignore.
XRP's Quiet Footprint in the New SWIFT Stack
XRP and the broader Ripple ecosystem have been positioning for exactly this kind of institutional moment. SWIFT itself has been testing Ripple's XRP Ledger for cross-border payments efficiency, alongside other networks. Ripple's On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) product eliminates the need for banks to pre-fund foreign accounts — a pain point SWIFT's new ledger also aims to address.
With HSBC bridging both ecosystems — holding Metaco's Ripple-built custody infrastructure while helping design SWIFT's new blockchain rails — the XRP network's footprint in the emerging global payments stack grows more visible.
Pérez-Tasso framed it plainly at Sibos:
"You may think, 'Wow, aren't those opposites? Swift and blockchain. TradFi and DeFi. Can they really go together?' In the regulated system of the future, we believe they can. Banks are ready for it."
Over 30 banks are already shaping the ledger's functionality, governance, and future development phases. The first live use case targets instant interbank cross-border settlement — operating continuously, without the multi-day delays that have long defined the legacy correspondent banking model.
3 Key Takeaways:
SWIFT launches blockchain shared ledger for 24/7 cross-border payments at Sibos 2025.HSBC is a named design partner — and already runs Ripple's Metaco Harmonize platform.XRP's role in SWIFT's evolving ecosystem may be larger than it currently appears.
This Article First Appeared on:https://www.cryptonewslive.org/article/swift-goes-blockchain-and-hsbc-is-quietly-bringing-xrp

The crypto market is under heavy pressure today, with prices falling sharply over the weekend and investors asking one question: what went wrong? The answer lies in a mix of forced selling, weak demand, and price levels breaking all at once.
The total crypto market value has dropped to around $2.6 trillion, down nearly 5% in the last 24 hours. Bitcoin, which was trying to hold above $78,000, has now slipped below that level, adding to market fear. Many traders are now watching the next major support near $75,000.
The biggest driver of today’s crash is liquidations. In just 24 hours, more than $2.58 billion worth of crypto positions were wiped out. This happens when traders use borrowed money and prices move against them, forcing exchanges to close positions automatically.
Weekend Trading Made It Worse
Weekend markets usually have lower trading volume and thinner liquidity. That means fewer buyers are available when prices start falling. As Bitcoin dropped below key levels, sell orders piled up quickly, pushing prices down faster than usual.
Bitcoin Breaks Key Levels
Bitcoin falling below $78,000 was a major technical trigger. This level had been acting as short-term support. Once it broke, many traders exited positions. Bitcoin is also testing an important long-term support level when compared to gold, making this zone critical.
If Bitcoin fails to hold near current levels, analysts see $75,000 as the next strong support. A break below that could bring even more selling.
Altcoins Hit Harder
Altcoins are feeling even more pain:
Ethereum is down sharply over the week, losing more than 20%
XRP, Solana, and BNB are all deep in the red
The CoinMarketCap 20 Index is down over 14% in seven days
Market Fear Is Extreme
Investor sentiment has collapsed. The Fear and Greed Index is at 18, which signals extreme fear. Technical indicators show most coins are now oversold, meaning prices have fallen very quickly in a short time.
Weak Demand Adds Pressure
On top of liquidations, demand has been weak. Large investors have been cautious, and there has been no strong buying support to absorb the selling. When forced liquidations meet low demand, prices fall fast.
What Happens Next
The market now depends on whether Bitcoin can stabilise above $75,000. If selling slows and liquidations dry up, a short-term bounce is possible. But if fear continues and key supports fail, volatility could remain high in the coming days.
For now, the weekend crash shows how quickly crypto markets can turn when leverage, fear, and low liquidity collide.