Standard Chartered Sees Ethereum at $8,000 by 2026

Standard Chartered Bank has projected that Ethereum could experience a fivefold increase in its value, potentially reaching $8,000 by the close of 2026, according to Geoff Kendrick, who is the Head Crypto Research and EM FX West.

At present, Ethereum is primarily utilized for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and decentralized finance (DeFi). However, Kendrick anticipates that Ethereum’s expanding roles in gaming and tokenization will create substantial new demand.

Per CoinDesk’s article, Kendrick further states that these emerging applications will serve as real-world examples, illustrating how various sectors can transition to the Ethereum blockchain to leverage its advantages over existing systems. He expects significant progress in these sectors to materialize between 2025 and 2026.

In the near term, Kendrick also predicts a positive market-wide impact from Bitcoin’s upcoming halving event in April 2024. He believes this event will buoy the entire crypto market, including Ethereum, and sees Ethereum’s value reaching $4,000 by the end of 2024.

Moreover, Kendrick suggests that the $8,000 valuation is not the final destination for Ethereum. He indicates that this is merely an initial stage leading up to the bank’s long-term valuation estimate for Ethereum, which he places between $26,000 and $35,000.

In contrast, in a video published on 10 October, crypto analyst Benjamin Cowen expressed his pessimistic short-term outlook on Ethereum (ETH), the leading smart contract platform in terms of market cap. Cowen expects Ethereum’s price to decrease substantially by the close of the year.

The Daily Hodl reports that Cowen believes Ethereum needs to revert to a lower value before it can sustain any long-term upward movement. He downplays the significance of Ethereum’s recent doubling in price, arguing that such gains are easily attainable in the conventional stock market. According to an analysis Cowen carried out almost a year ago, Ethereum has typically had to touch its lower regression band to see any notable price upticks. In his logarithmic regression model, this “home” for Ethereum lies in the $600 to $800 range.

Cowen predicts that Ethereum’s price is very likely to fall under $1,200 within the next couple of months. He also doesn’t rule out the possibility of an even steeper decline.

Cowen notes that Ethereum is making efforts to maintain its price within shorter time spans, spanning just over a year. However, he argues that it’s only a matter of time before Ethereum breaks these levels, leading to a reversion to its lower valuation ranges.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=Y50iyDlu0Bg%3Ffeature%3Doembed

At the time of writing, $ETH is trading at around $1,563, down 2.61% in the past 24-hour period.

Featured Image via Pixabay

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