Standard Chartered has sharply increased its Ether price target for 2025 to $7,500, up from a previous $4,000, citing rising institutional demand and regulatory clarity on stablecoins.
The bank’s report highlighted that Ether ETFs and corporate treasuries have bought 3.8% of all ETH in circulation since early June.
This pace is nearly double Bitcoin’s fastest rate of institutional accumulation during the 2024 US election period.
Catalysts for Growth
The bank said two major developments have boosted sentiment: strong industry engagement from the Ethereum Foundation and Etherialize, and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin’s plans to increase layer-1 throughput tenfold.
This would allow more high-value transactions to settle on the main chain while smaller ones move to layer-2 networks such as Arbitrum and Base.
Another driver is the GENIUS Act, passed in July, which sets a legal framework for stablecoins.
Stablecoins now account for 40% of blockchain fees, with over half issued on Ethereum.
Standard Chartered expects the stablecoin market to grow from its current size to $2 trillion by 2028, significantly increasing Ethereum’s usage.
Market Outlook
The bank forecasts Ether will break its previous all-time high in Q3 2025 and outperform Bitcoin, with the ETH-BTC ratio rising from 0.036 to 0.05.
Its long-term projections put ETH at $12,000 in 2026, $18,000 in 2027, and $25,000 by 2028.
At present, ETH trades at $4,692 — just below its 2021 record of $4,891.
Short-Term Market Moves
With Ether close to its all-time high, some large holders are taking profits.
The “7 Siblings” Ethereum whale group recently sold $88.2 million worth of ETH, unloading 19,461 coins at an average of $4,532.
Despite this selling pressure, Standard Chartered expects long-term demand drivers to outweigh short-term volatility.
