Bitcoin and Ethereum barely moved on Thursday, but two developments from the United States may shape the weeks ahead. Citigroup raised its price targets for both leading cryptocurrencies, and a dollar stablecoin backed by some of the biggest names in payments went live.
Citigroup Lifts Its Bitcoin and Ether Targets
According to a client note cited by Reuters, Citigroup raised its 12-month Bitcoin target to $113,000 from $82,000, an increase of roughly 38%. The bank also lifted its Ethereum target to $3,028 from $2,240.
Citi pointed to three drivers: stronger crypto market activity, a more supportive macroeconomic backdrop and the resumption of exchange-traded fund inflows.
The upgrade arrives while prices remain quiet. Bitcoin opened at about $83,566 on Thursday and Ethereum at about $2,684, both in a narrow range that has held all week. Bitcoin is up roughly 6% over the past month, yet still sits well below its all-time high of $126,198 set in October 2025.
Open USD Goes Live
On Wednesday, Open Standard launched Open USD (OUSD), a dollar-pegged stablecoin developed with Coinbase, Mastercard, Shopify, Stripe and Visa as founding partners. The token runs natively on Ethereum, Solana, Base and Tempo.
OUSD is issued by Bridge, the stablecoin infrastructure company Stripe acquired for $1.1 billion in 2024. Reserves are held at BlackRock, Lead Bank and BNY, and monthly reserve attestations are planned.
Businesses can mint and redeem OUSD at a 1:1 rate against the dollar at no cost through BVNK (owned by Mastercard), Stripe and the Visa Stablecoin Platform. Coinbase access begins on October 1. Instead of conversion fees, Open Standard charges a small transaction fee. The five founding partners have committed more than $1 billion to seed initial liquidity.
What It Means for the US Market
The two stories point in the same direction: traditional finance is moving deeper into crypto infrastructure. Institutional research is turning more constructive on Bitcoin and Ether, while payment giants are building rails for stablecoin settlement.
Open USD enters a market dominated by Tether's USDT and Circle's USDC. Executives at Visa, Mastercard and Coinbase have said they will keep supporting multiple stablecoins, including USDC, so the launch is not exclusive. Whether OUSD wins meaningful share will depend on adoption by banks, payroll providers and enterprise software over the coming months.
Bottom Line
Price targets are forecasts, not guarantees, and Bitcoin still needs to break out of its current range before Citi's view plays out. Still, returning ETF inflows and a major stablecoin launch give US crypto markets a firmer institutional footing heading into October.
