Banking giant sets date when Ethereum will trade at $30,000

Standard Chartered has released a fresh bullish outlook on Ethereum (ETH), projecting that the cryptocurrency will climb sharply this decade.

According to its outlook, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization could potentially rally to $30,000 by 2029 while outperforming Bitcoin (BTC) through 2026. 

The target implies a roughly 790% gain from ETH’s press-time value of $3,371. At that level, Ethereum would command a market capitalization of about $3.6 trillion, positioning it as the world’s largest digital asset, assuming Bitcoin records minimal growth over the same period.

The forecast reinforces the bank’s long-standing optimism on ETH, even as it acknowledges that previous targets have not always aligned with market outcomes.

The multinational bank’s latest outlook sees Ethereum reaching $7,500 by the end of 2026, with a longer-term trajectory that places the asset at $30,000 within the next three years. The analysis is led by the bank’s digital assets research team and is built around Ethereum’s structural role in the crypto economy rather than short-term market momentum.

Ethereum’s dominance 

Standard Chartered argued that Ethereum’s strength lies in its dominance across key blockchain use cases. The network remains the primary settlement layer for stablecoins, hosts a large share of tokenized real-world assets, and continues to underpin most decentralized finance activity. According to the bank, these factors give Ethereum the potential to decouple from periods of Bitcoin weakness and sustain independent growth.

The report also reiterated a recurring theme in Standard Chartered’s research: Ethereum’s ability to outperform Bitcoin during phases when blockchain utility and adoption matter more than pure store-of-value narratives. In this view, ETH’s role as programmable financial infrastructure positions it to benefit from institutional adoption, particularly as traditional assets increasingly move on-chain.

At the same time, the bank’s latest projections reflect a more tempered stance than some of its past calls. The $7,500 target for late 2026 is lower than the $8,000 level the bank once expected Ethereum to reach by the end of 2024.

Despite that recalibration, Standard Chartered remains one of the most bullish major banks on Ethereum.

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