Bitcoin isn’t the only cryptocurrency likely to surge.
BNB is on track for a 360% rise, according to Standard Chartered.
The utility token, which runs on its own blockchain, has been trading in line with Bitcoin and Ethereum, according to the bank’s Global Head of Digital Assets Research, Geoffrey Kendrick.
And this is likely to continue, despite the asset having little utility, Kendrick added in a Tuesday note.
“BNB has traded almost exactly in line with an unweighted basket of Bitcoin and Ethereum since May 2021 in terms of both returns and volatility. We expect this relationship to continue to hold, driving BNB’s price from around $600 currently to $2,775 by end-2028,” the note said.
BNB is the fifth biggest digital coin with an $87 billion market cap and was recently trading for $595, according to CoinGecko data.
The asset was launched in 2017 by Binance, the world’s biggest crypto marketplace, and previously ran on the Ethereum network.
It then became the native coin of the BNB Chain—a crypto network used by developers to build decentralized apps.
And while developers don’t use the coin’s network to build like they do with other chains, the coin remains popular with traders, Kendrick said.
“Because of its low developer numbers, BNB’s use cases have remained static relative to peer chains,” said Kendrick—adding that this gives the coin a level of stability.
He continued: “Assuming Binance remains one of the largest [centralized exchanges], BNB’s value drivers are unlikely to change anytime soon. Given this, we see potential for BNB to serve as a form of benchmark, or average, for digital asset prices more broadly.”
Standard Chartered predicted last month that Bitcoin will continue to surge in price, touching $200,000 by year end as investors increasingly pull money from U.S. assets and reallocate them to the crypto space.
Edited by James Rubin