Standard Chartered Bank: Expected Ethereum performance to "significantly outperform the market" by 2026, reaching $7,500 by the end of the year

BlockBeats News, January 12 — Standard Chartered Bank sent a positive signal about the outlook for Ethereum. Geoffrey Kendrick, Global Head of Digital Asset Research at the bank, stated that although recent price forecasts have been lowered amid the overall weakness in the crypto market, he expects Ethereum to outperform other cryptocurrencies by 2026.

“I believe 2026 will be the year of Ethereum, just like 2021,” Kendrick wrote in the notes of the bank’s latest digital asset report. He pointed out that the growth in blockchain and on-chain product adoption will be key factors driving Ethereum to “significantly outperform the market.”

The report noted that Bitcoin’s continued dominance in the space has weakened the appreciation prospects of digital assets relative to the US dollar, as its underperformance has been disappointing. However, Kendrick emphasized that Ethereum’s driving forces are strengthening relative to Bitcoin.

Standard Chartered Bank expects the ETH/BTC exchange rate to gradually return to the high levels of around 0.08 seen in 2021, thanks to Ethereum’s structural advantages that other cryptocurrencies lack, including its dominance in stablecoins, real-world assets, and decentralized finance, as well as ongoing network scaling efforts.

The bank believes that the planned improvements to Ethereum Layer 1 throughput (including measures taken with the Fusaka upgrade in December last year) are crucial, as historical data shows that higher throughput often translates into higher market capitalization. Additionally, a more favorable regulatory environment could further improve the outlook, especially with the U.S. Clarity Act expected to pass in the first quarter. If approved, combined with the resilience of the U.S. stock market, it could push Bitcoin to a new all-time high in the first half of the year. The bank believes this scenario would also support Ethereum’s long-term upward trend.

This forecast coincides with a divergence in Standard Chartered Bank’s stance on Bitcoin and Ethereum — while the bank has lowered its absolute price targets for Ethereum over the next few years, its outlook for Ethereum remains more positive than for Bitcoin. The bank currently expects Ethereum to reach $7,500 by the end of 2026, down from its previous forecast of $12,000; its targets for 2027 and 2028 have been adjusted to $15,000 and $22,000, respectively, both below earlier expectations. However, Standard Chartered has raised its long-term outlook, increasing its 2029 end-of-year forecast to $30,000 and adding a target of $40,000 by the end of 2030.