Ethereum to Hit $7,500 in 2025 and $25K by 2028? Standard Chartered Drops Bombshell Prediction
Ethereum isn’t just mooning—it’s plotting a multi-year escape velocity. Standard Chartered’s latest forecast sends shockwaves through crypto circles, with price targets that’d make even Bitcoin maximalists blink.
The short-term play: institutional FOMO
That $7,500 target for 2025 isn’t just a number—it’s a direct challenge to Wall Street’s remaining skeptics. The bank cites Ethereum’s deflationary shift post-Merge and exploding Layer-2 adoption as dual rocket boosters.
The long game: flipping gold (and maybe Bitcoin?)
Their $25,000 call for 2028 suggests ETH could eat into gold’s $12T market cap. Ambitious? Sure. But with staking yields and DeFi’s slow creep into traditional finance, the math starts making hedge funds nervous.
Cynical footnote: Watch how fast these same analysts backpedal if the SEC starts sniffing around PoS securities laws again. Banking on crypto’s future while keeping regulatory escape routes—now that’s true institutional wisdom.
Ethereum just got one of its biggest bullish calls this year. Standard Chartered has sharply raised its price forecast, setting a new 2025 year-end target of $7,500, up from $4,000, and a long-term projection of $25,000 by 2028.
The bank says the MOVE is backed by a wave of institutional buying, the rise of Ethereum-focused treasury companies, and fresh momentum in stablecoin adoption following recent regulatory clarity in the US.
Here’s what you need to know.
Billions in ETH Flowing Into Treasuries
One of the biggest drivers is that corporate treasuries are loading up on ETH.
Combined targets from leading firms add up to $30.4 billion, a massive jump from the $7.59 billion already held. BitMine tops the list with plans to allocate $22 billion, aiming for around 5% of the total ETH supply.
The past month has seen aggressive accumulation:
- BitMine Immersion boosted holdings by 410% to 833,100 ETH.
- SharpLink Gaming added 141%, now at 521,900 ETH.
- The Ether Machine grew its stack 8% to 345,400 ETH.
Together, the top 10 treasury companies hold 2.63 million ETH – about 2.63% of all supply.
DeFi Back in the Spotlight
Many companies are exploring ways to earn higher returns in DeFi. Yields from staking sit around 3-5%, but competition for better returns could push billions into DeFi protocols.
Etherealize’s Vivek Raman says this could be the spark for “DeFi Summer 2.0 – but on the institutional scale and bigger and better.”
GENIUS Act Clears the Way for Stablecoins
The GENIUS Act, passed in July, sets a clear rulebook for stablecoins. This matters because stablecoins make up 40% of all blockchain fees, with more than half issued on Ethereum.
Standard Chartered expects the stablecoin market cap to surge eightfold to $2 trillion by 2028, feeding more demand for ETH.
ETH Nears All-Time High, but Profit-Taking Kicks In
ETH is trading near $4,702, just 3.8% shy of its 2021 all-time high of $4,891. But big holders are cashing in – the whale group “7 Siblings” sold $88.2M worth of ETH in 24 hours, while the ethereum Foundation sold $12.7M.
