Cryptocurrency executive Kain Warwick is set to pay $50,000 after betting that Ether would hit $25,000 in 2025, joining one of many market participants who overestimated how quickly Ether would recover from its October plunge.
Ether (ETH) ended on December 31 at a price of approximately $2,980, which is approximately 13.7% lower than at the beginning of the year, According to to CoinMarketCap.
This was partly due to the liquidation of the $19 billion cryptocurrency market on October 10, which triggered a downtrend, pushing Ether to the $2,767 level before slowly starting to rise again.
The bet arose from an exchange between Warwick and Multicoin’s managing partner, Kyle Samani, in November. Samani doubted the chances of Ether (ETH) recovering and reached $25,000 by the end of the year.
Warwick disagreed, betting at odds of 10-1 that he had a chance.
“It’s time to pay” – Samani he said in X’s post to Warwick on Wednesday.
Warwicka, like many others, he had high hopes for Ether last year given its growing institutional adoption and moves toward real-world asset tokenization.
Speaking to Cointelegraph on Friday, Warwick lowered his recent 2026 price target for Ether in airy of the recent loss, to a “measly $10,000.”
“Actually [Actually] ETH has increased by 50% since we placed the bet. I just needed another clean 8x to win,” Warwick said.
Other analysts predicted around 10,000. dollars
Just weeks before Warwick doubled the value of Ether, BitMine Chairman Tom Lee speculated that the cryptocurrency could end the year at around $10,000.
“In the case of Ethereum, something in between [$10,000] and $12,000,” Lee said on the Bankless podcast on October 13.
Meanwhile, BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes, who also appeared on the same podcast episode, said he “intends to be consistent” with his $10,000 projected amount by the end of the year.
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While the price did not reach this level, Ethereum instead made other milestones in 2025.
Ethereum has undergone two major upgrades in 2025, Pectra in May and Fusaka in December. The Ethereum Foundation said Fusaka brings Ethereum one step closer to providing “near-instant transactions.”
On Thursday, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said Ethereum needs to do more to achieve its mission “[building] a world computer that serves as the centerpiece of the infrastructure for a freer and more open Internet.”
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