Geopolitical Tensions May Drive Bitcoin Up, Russian Politician Suggests

• A Russian MP has predicted that the ongoing geopolitical tension could increase demand for Bitcoin (BTC) and subsequently send the price to a significant level. 
• A Standard Chartered analyst has also apologised for positioning Bitcoin’s prediction at $120k; claims the asset would rather hit $200k. 

Russian MP Anatoly Aksakov has hinted that the rising tension between India and Pakistan could be a huge advantage for Bitcoin (BTC) to make an explosive surge. According to him, Bitcoin has proven to be a perfect tool for the movement of money across borders in times of disruptions of the traditional banking system.

The Details

Days ago, India launched a series of strikes on Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, resulting in the death of at least 31 people. This occurred weeks after a group of Pakistanis reportedly killed 26 people.

According to the Indian authorities, these attackers deliberately singled out Hindu men. Multiple reports have confirmed that what appeared as a retaliatory attack could escalate into a more serious confrontation as Pakistan also seeks revenge.

Amidst the backdrop of this, the price of Bitcoin has made a dramatic surge to $103k, printing 6% gains on its weekly chart. Imitating this move, Ethereum (ETH) has also broken a crucial resistance level to hit $2,350 while Solana (SOL) hits $172 at press time.

According to the Russian MP, this is the right time to buy Bitcoin. As a digital gold, he believes that Bitcoin provides a safe haven during periods of political or economic uncertainty. Shedding more light on this, Aksakov disclosed that some countries or regions may already be using the asset for weapons and military deals.

Outside the circumference of war, Bitcoin is reported to have been used for trade deals between countries, with a recent Reuters report hinting that Iran and Venezuela use it to evade sanctions. As indicated in our earlier discussion, some Russian oil companies have been using Bitcoin, Ether, and stablecoins like USDT for their trade by converting them to Chinese Yuan, Indian Rupees, and back to Russian Rubles.

Bitcoin to Hit $200k?

With all of these into play, analysts expect the demand for Bitcoin to skyrocket, sending the price to a new high. According to the head of digital assets at Standard Chartered, Geoffrey Kendrick, the asset could hit $200k by the end of the year, apologizing for his earlier prediction of $120k per coin. Meanwhile, this aligns with his previous analysis, which was also reviewed by CNF.

I apologise that my USD 120K Q2 target may be too low…We expect these supportive factors to push BTC to a fresh all-time high around USD 120,000 in Q2. We see gains continuing through the summer, taking BTC-USD towards our year-end forecast of 200,000…The dominant story for Bitcoin has changed again. It was correlated to risk assets … It then became a way to position for strategic asset reallocation out of US assets.

According to him, the inflow of Bitcoin is now coming in many forms, with the US Bitcoin Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) attracting $5.3 billion in the past three weeks, as detailed in our previous news brief.