Standard Chartered has set a modern long-term target of $40,000 for Ethereum (ETH) by the end of 2030, while sharply lowering its forecast for the end of 2026, arguing that Ethereum’s relative setup is improving even as Bitcoin-driven weakness weighed on the cryptocurrencies’ absolute price targets.
In a research note, the bank’s digital asset analyst Geoff Kendrick identified 2026 as a potential turning point for Ethereum relative to Bitcoin, despite a revision to ETH-USD’s medium-term path. “We believe that ETH’s prospects have improved. Therefore, we expect the price to gradually return to the highs of 2021.” –Kendrick he wrotepointing to the rebound in the ETH/BTC relationship as the main expression of his thesis.
Standard Chartered changes Ethereum’s perspective
Standard Chartered now expects the price of ether to be $7,500 at the end of 2026, up from a previous estimate of $12,000, before rising to $15,000 in 2027 (down from $18,000) and $22,000 in 2028 (down from $25,000), and USD 30,000 is foreseen in 2029 (up from USD 25,000) and USD 40,000 by the end of 2030.
“I think 2026 will be the year of Ethereum, just like 2021,” Kendrick writes. The bank attributes the short-term downgrade to Bitcoin’s impact on the performance of dollar-denominated cryptocurrencies, with Kendrick noting that BTC’s weaker performance “has impacted the outlook for dollar-priced digital assets,” forcing lower absolute targets through 2028 even as Ethereum’s relative fundamentals strengthen.
Kendrick highlighted a set of Ethereum-specific supports that he believes are more likely to show up in relative performance rather than an outright augment in the spot price. He pointed to continued accumulation by Bitmine Immersion Technologies, which the note described as the largest Ethereum-focused digital asset vault company, at a time when ETF inflows have “temporarily stalled” and broader corporate bond purchases have cooled.
He also cited Ethereum’s centrality to stablecoins, tokenized real-world assets and DeFi as structural drivers of demand, and highlighted the implementation of plans to augment Ethereum’s Layer 1 capacity by approximately 10 times over the next two to three years. “The analysis shows that higher throughput translates into higher market capitalization,” Kendrick wrote.
The regulation was seen as another potential contributing factor. Kendrick pointed to the US CLARITY Act as a solution that could support the sector and “ETH in particular” if it helps unlock the next phase of DeFi activity. The U.S. Senate is scheduled to review the bill on Jan. 15, with possible passage in the first quarter.
For traders, the framework suggests that the most confidence-inspiring statement from Standard Chartered is less about determining the exact level of ETH-USD over the next 12 months and more about whether Ethereum can regain its relative decline against Bitcoin as bandwidth, stablecoin-heavy activity, and policy clarity emerge in 2026 and beyond.
At the time of publication, the price of ETH was $3,126.
Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
