PNC Bank Becomes First Major U.S. Bank to Offer Direct Bitcoin Trading

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Wall Street research firm Bernstein has reiterated one of the boldest long-term calls in traditional finance, confirming a $1 million Bitcoin price target for 2033 while materially revising how and when it expects the market to get there. Bernstein Keeps $1 Million Price Target For Bitcoin The latest shift surfaced after Matthew Sigel, head of digital assets research at VanEck, shared an excerpt from a new Bernstein note on X. In it, the analysts write: “In view of recent market correction, we believe, the Bitcoin cycle has broken the 4-year pattern (cycle peaking every 4 years) and is now in an elongated bull-cycle with more sticky institutional buying offsetting any retail panic selling.” The analyst from Bernstein added: “Despite a ~30% Bitcoin correction, we have seen less than 5% outflows via ETFs. We are moving our 2026E Bitcoin price target to $150,000, with the cycle potentially peaking in 2027E at $200,000. Our long term 2033E Bitcoin price target remains ~$1,000,000.” Related Reading: Did 2025 Mark A Bear Market For Bitcoin? Predictions Point To A $150,000 Rally In 2026 This marks a clear evolution from Bernstein’s earlier cycle roadmap. In mid-2024, when the firm first laid out the $1 million-by-2033 thesis as part of its initiation on MicroStrategy, it projected a “cycle-high” of around $200,000 by 2025, up from an already-optimistic $150,000 target, explicitly driven by strong US spot ETF inflows and constrained supply. Subsequent commentary reiterated that path and framed Bitcoin firmly within the traditional four-year halving rhythm: ETF demand would supercharge, but not fundamentally alter, the classic post-halving boom-and-bust pattern. Reality forced an adjustment. Bitcoin did break to new highs on the back of ETF demand, validating Bernstein’s structural call that regulated spot products would be a decisive catalyst. However, price action has fallen short of the earlier timing: the market topped out in the mid-$120,000s rather than the $200,000 band originally envisaged for 2025, and a roughly 30% drawdown followed. Related Reading: Bitcoin To Hit $50 Million By 2041, Says EMJ Capital CEO What changed is not the end-state, but the path. Bernstein now argues that the four-year template has been superseded by a longer, ETF-anchored bull cycle. The critical datapoint underpinning this view is behavior in the recent correction: despite a near one-third price decline, spot Bitcoin ETFs have seen only about 5% net outflows, which the firm interprets as evidence of “sticky” institutional capital rather than the reflexive retail capitulation that defined previous tops. In the new framework, earlier targets are effectively rescheduled rather than abandoned. The mid-2020s six-figure region is shifted out by roughly one to two years, with $150,000 now penciled in for 2026 and a potential cycle peak near $200,000 in 2027, while the 2033 $1 million objective is left unchanged. In that sense, Bernstein’s track record is mixed but internally consistent. The firm has been directionally right on the drivers—ETF adoption, institutionalization, and supply absorption—but too aggressive on the speed at which those forces would translate into price. The latest note formalizes that recognition: same destination, slower ascent, and a Bitcoin market that Bernstein now sees as governed less by halvings and more by the behavior of large, ETF-mediated capital pools over the rest of the decade. At press time, BTC traded at $90,319. Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com