The revision marks a reversal from March, when Standard Chartered cut its 2025 forecast from $10,000 to $4,000. At the time, the bank attributed the downgrade to structural headwinds, including revenue diversion to Layer-2 networks such as Coinbase’s Base, which it estimated could remove roughly $50 billion from Ethereum’s market capitalization, and a slowdown in the network’s on-chain economic activity.
While Standard Chartered’s revised targets are forward-looking and subject to market volatility, they frame a market narrative where long-term holders and treasury managers could play a more central role in price support.
Ethereum’s market position remains shaped by its dual role as a settlement layer and a base for Layer-2 ecosystems. The earlier concerns about fee leakage to scaling solutions have not dissipated, yet the bank’s latest projections imply that new sources of demand could offset some of these pressures.
The potential for corporate holdings to lock up a larger portion of supply intersects with staking yields and the appeal of Ethereum as a yield-bearing asset, adding dimensions to the investment thesis beyond speculative trading.
Standard Chartered’s latest forecast shift captures an evolving interaction between Ethereum’s technical landscape and its macro adoption trends. The upgrade from $4,000 to $7,500 for 2025, and from $7,500 to $25,000 for 2028, situates Ethereum in a higher valuation bracket based on assumptions of sustained corporate participation and ecosystem activity.
Whether these trends persist will depend on regulatory clarity, competitive pressures from other smart contract platforms, Ethereum’s development roadmap, and future protocol upgrades. For now, the bank’s projections reflect renewed confidence in the asset’s medium- and long-term trajectory.
