Standard Chartered Increases Its Long-Term Ethereum Forecast
Standard Chartered Bank thinks that Ethereum could be worth $40,000 by 2030 because it is becoming more important in the markets for decentralized finance, tokenized assets, and stablecoins. The forecast is a new vote of confidence in Ethereum’s long-term fundamentals, even though the price is likely to be volatile in the short term.
The bank’s most recent research on digital assets, which was led by the Global Head of Digital Assets, Geoffrey Kendrick says that Ethereum’s value will slowly go up over the next ten years. Analysts think that Ethereum’s structural advantages will help it do better than Bitcoin in the years to come, even though shorter-term targets were lowered.
Source: CNBC
Lowered Near-Term Price Targets
Standard Chartered cut its 2026 Ethereum target from $12,000 to $7,500 and its 2027 target from $15,000 to $15,000 in the report. The 2028 estimate was also cut to $22,000 because Bitcoin’s performance has been weak, which is keeping the overall value of cryptocurrencies down. Even with these changes, analysts stressed that Ethereum is still stronger than its competitors.
Kendrick said that the slower pace of Bitcoin’s rise has temporarily limited gains in digital assets that are priced in dollars. He did say, though, that Ethereum has strong ecosystem fundamentals, especially in decentralized applications, which means it will be able to bounce back strongly once the economy improves.
$40,000 Target Anchored to Structural Growth
Standard Chartered thinks that Ethereum’s market position will get a lot stronger by the end of the decade. The bank set a new price target of $40,000 for 2030. They expect the Ethereum-to-Bitcoin ratio to slowly rise toward 0.08, which was last seen in 2021.
The long-term bullish forecast is based on Ethereum’s dominance in stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets. Kendrick said, “Ethereum’s usefulness in decentralized finance and tokenization is a structural advantage that keeps growing.” The report says that Ethereum will continue to be the default settlement layer for both institutional and consumer blockchain apps.
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Institutional Flows Support Ethereum Resilience
Overall, inflows into exchange-traded funds have slowed down across all cryptocurrencies. However, Ethereum-linked products are still getting a lot of interest from institutions. Standard Chartered said that Ethereum funds have been in higher demand than Bitcoin ETFs in the last few quarters.
This relative strength shows how Ethereum is becoming more popular with professional investors who see the network as a base layer for financial infrastructure. The report said that new capital inflows could speed up once interest rates around the world stabilize and people start to trust the market again.
Stablecoin and Tokenization Markets Expanding Rapidly
Standard Chartered thinks that by 2028, the total market value of stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets will reach $2 trillion. More than half of these digital tools already work on Ethereum, and the bank thinks this will continue to be the case.
Ethereum’s ability to work with existing financial systems gives it an edge as traditional finance moves on-chain. Ethereum’s secure and programmable infrastructure is becoming more and more important for tokenized bonds, stocks, and commodities. Analysts said that this wave of adoption will be a key factor in creating long-term value.
BitMine Immersion Gathers Ethereum Holdings
The report also said that BitMine Immersion, the biggest publicly traded company that focuses on Ethereum, is still buying more of it. The company now owns about 3.4% of the Ethereum that is currently in circulation, and it plans to reach 5% in the next few years. Standard Chartered said that this accumulation showed that businesses believe in Ethereum’s growth potential.
As Ethereum becomes more popular for payments, data verification, and tokenization, institutional and corporate treasuries are likely to follow suit. This ongoing trend of accumulation is similar to what happened in the early days of Bitcoin’s institutional adoption cycles.
Network Activity and Scalability Upgrades
Ethereum’s network fundamentals have gotten a lot stronger, and transaction volumes have hit all-time highs in the past few weeks. Stablecoin transfers now make up 35% to 40% of all on-chain activity, which keeps the network busy.
The Fusaka upgrade, which came out in December, started a schedule for hard forks every six months to make the network more scalable and faster. The goal of this upgrade schedule is to turn Ethereum into a trillion-dollar blockchain ecosystem by increasing processing power and lowering transaction costs. The strategy of constantly improving Ethereum boosts investors’ faith in its long-term growth potential.
Ethereum Positioned for Decade-Long Outperformance
Standard Chartered’s prediction says that by 2030, Ethereum could be the most important blockchain for financial apps. Even though the market is weak right now, the bank still believes that Ethereum will be the backbone of tokenized finance.
Analysts said that the network’s ability to change, the number of developers working on it, and its use in real-world finance will all help it gain value. If the predictions are correct, Ethereum’s rise to $40,000 would be one of the biggest rallies in the history of digital assets. This would make it a key part of the global financial system.
