Bitcoin (BTC) Price Predictions This Week: BTC/USD Bulls Eye $50K as Institutional Adoption Heats Up

China's DeepSeek AI has also drawn attention this week. Unlike major firms that spend billions developing AI models, DeepSeek reportedly achieved

Key Takeaways:

DeepSeek AI, a Chinese company, reportedly achieved results comparable to major firms spending billions on AI development, but at a cost of just $5 million. Standard Chartered suggested that this lower cost of AI could contribute to reducing inflation, potentially benefiting assets like Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC).

DeepSeek's lower-cost AI is said to be able to perform tasks like generating text, translating languages, and writing different types of code, on par with models from firms like OpenAI and Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) DeepMind.

Standard Chartered's Kendrick broadly highlighted that DeepSeek's emergence doesn't directly threaten Bitcoin but could instead support its long-term growth.

Also impacting crypto this week, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rescinded Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 121, a rule that previously required companies holding crypto assets to record them as liabilities on their balance sheets.

SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, a critic of the rule, is now leading a new crypto task force, signaling a shift in the agency's approach to digital assets. The rule's removal is expected to encourage greater institutional participation in Bitcoin.

Highlighting the increasing institutional interest in Bitcoin, Standard Chartered's Kendrick noted that Bitcoin ETFs have seen net inflows of $38 billion in just over a year.

In contrast, pension funds currently hold only about 1% of this value in crypto. Kendrick suggests that the long-only investment sector, which manages assets of $40 trillion, could begin allocating to Bitcoin by 2025, pushing inflows to exceed last year's levels.

On the international front, central banks are also considering including Bitcoin in their reserves. Czech National Bank Governor Aleš Michl is set to propose adding up to $7 billion in Bitcoin to the country's holdings.

If approved, the Czech Republic would become the first Western nation to include Bitcoin in its central bank reserves. Michl cited diversification as a key rationale for the move.

Despite short-term fluctuations, some analysts, like CryptoMondays founder Lou Kerner, remain optimistic about Bitcoin's future, highlighting its scarcity and increasing global demand.

Kerner points out that while short-term market shocks, like DeepSeek's emergence or potential U.S. trade tariffs during the Trump administration, can temporarily impact prices, the long-term outlook is driven by scarcity and demand.

Standard Chartered's Kendrick also suggests that economic uncertainty could push more investors toward Bitcoin as a store of value.