Standard Chartered Bank has released bold predictions for the cryptocurrency market, forecasting that while Bitcoin will see impressive growth, Avalanche (AVAX) is positioned to deliver substantially higher returns by the end of 2029.
According to the bank, Avalanche’s AVAX token could reach $250 by decade’s end—representing a remarkable 1,326% increase from its current value of approximately $18. In contrast, Bitcoin is projected to climb to $500,000, a noteworthy but comparatively modest 500% rise from its current price around $82,650.
What Is Avalanche?
Avalanche distinguishes itself in the competitive blockchain ecosystem with revolutionary technological advancements. The platform’s core strength lies in its proprietary consensus protocol, engineered to deliver exceptional throughput, minimal latency, and robust defense against sybil attacks.
Unlike its predecessors Bitcoin and Ethereum, Avalanche processes thousands of transactions per second with confirmation times under one second. This remarkable efficiency stems from the platform’s signature Avalanche Protocol—a consensus mechanism that represents a significant departure from conventional proof-of-work and proof-of-stake systems.
The platform’s sophisticated architecture features a strategic tri-chain design: the Exchange Chain (X-Chain) handles asset transfers, the Contract Chain (C-Chain) supports decentralized applications and smart contracts, and the Platform Chain (P-Chain) manages validators and coordinates subnet operations. This specialized structure effectively compartmentalizes different functions, optimizing performance for specific use cases.
Avalanche’s technical framework successfully addresses the blockchain trilemma by delivering scalability, decentralization, and security simultaneously—a rare achievement in the industry. This balanced approach creates a flexible ecosystem capable of supporting diverse applications ranging from sophisticated financial services to complex enterprise solutions.
Scaling Approach and Etna
In an email to The Block on Wednesday, Geoff Kendrick, global head of digital assets research at Standard Chartered, attributes Avalanche’s potential outperformance to its innovative scaling approach through dedicated Layer-1 application networks (previously termed subnets).
“Avalanche’s current small market cap means that incremental development improvements can have a big impact,” Kendrick explained. “As a result, we see AVAX outperforming both Bitcoin and Ethereum in terms of relative price gains.”
Avalanche has positioned itself among several blockchain platforms actively working to enhance transaction speeds and reduce costs to attract more users and developers. This effort reflects the highly competitive nature of the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector, which currently serves a smaller user base compared to centralized platforms.
A significant milestone for Avalanche came in December with the completion of its Etna Upgrade, which improved support for its scaling solution and reduced network engagement costs. This upgrade dramatically lowered the expense of establishing a Layer-1 network on Avalanche, subsequently attracting more developers to the platform.
Kendrick believes this positive development momentum will likely continue, supporting increased activity on the Avalanche network and driving AVAX price appreciation. While acknowledging it’s “still too early to tell whether the new [L1] approach will work,” he finds it encouraging that “one-quarter of active [L1s] are already Etna-compatible.”
Standard Chartered’s roadmap for AVAX includes progressive price targets: $55 by the end of 2025, $100 in 2026, $150 in 2027, and $200 in 2028, before reaching the ultimate $250 projection for 2029.
Despite these optimistic forecasts, it’s worth noting that AVAX’s current price sits nearly 88% below its historical peak of nearly $145 achieved in 2021, highlighting both the potential for recovery and the volatility inherent in cryptocurrency markets.