Citigroup raised its 12-month Bitcoin (BTC) target to $113,000 from $82,000 and lifted its Ether (ETH) forecast to $3,028, citing renewed demand for crypto exchange-traded funds.
Key Points:
- Citigroup lifted its 12-month Bitcoin target to $113,000 and its Ether target to $3,028.
- The bank expects about $5 billion in crypto inflows over the next year.
- The new Bitcoin call still sits roughly 10% below the October 2025 record.
Citi Bitcoin Target
The bank raised both targets in a note dated Wednesday, pointing to stronger crypto activity, a supportive macroeconomic backdrop and the return of ETF inflows. Its previous Ether target stood at $2,240. With Bitcoin trading near $83,900 and Ether around $2,700, the new figures imply gains of roughly 35% and 12%, respectively.
Citi expects about $5 billion of crypto inflows over the next 12 months, arriving at a "slower but stickier" pace as advisers and brokerages add Bitcoin gradually. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs have already swung back, erasing $5.8 billion in outflows recorded by Jul. 13 and showing about $800 million in net inflows for 2026 by late September.
Prices have moved fast. Bitcoin has climbed nearly 40% and Ether about 68% over the past three months, Citi noted, trimming their losses for the year to roughly 4% and 9%. Even so, the new target sits about 10% below Bitcoin's record of roughly $126,000, set in October 2025.
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Bitcoin Regulation Outlook
Citi also weighed the Senate's Sept. 15 failure to advance the Clarity Act, a bill meant to set rules for crypto markets. The bank said the defeat "narrowed the path to a market-structure bill," but called the Securities and Exchange Commission rule announcements that followed "a temporary but meaningful positive."
Bitcoin shrugged off the vote. It gained more than 10% by the end of September. In Citi's view, agency rules may substitute for a lasting law at this point in the election cycle, though it sees a risk that a new administration in 2028 could roll them back.
Macro forces helped as well. Citi pointed to the U.S. Treasury's move to buy back more longer-dated bonds, which weakened the dollar and revived crypto after months of lagging other risk assets.
Citi Forecast History
The upgrade partly reverses a string of cuts Citi made earlier this year as investors pulled money from crypto funds and work on U.S. crypto legislation stalled.
The bank had trimmed its Bitcoin call from $143,000 to $112,000, then lowered it to $82,000 in July, while its Ether forecast slid from $4,304 to $3,175 and later to $2,240. ETF flows were among the main drivers of both rounds.
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