Recent remarks from BlackRock CEO Larry Fink have pointed toward the need for a single, unified blockchain for tokenized markets, and have intensified the focus on platforms capable of handling institutional-scale liquidity, compliance, and settlement. With its long track record in smart contracts, extensive developer ecosystem, and growing role in regulated financial products, Ethereum is now emerging as the most likely candidate to serve as the settlement layer for tokenized capital markets.

Why Asset Managers Prefer Familiar Infrastructure

In an X post, the Ethereum Daily shared a video in which BlackRock CEO Larry Fink made it clear that tokenization is necessary. Speaking at the World Economic Forum, Fink said the financial system must move rapidly toward digitization, adding that a single, common blockchain could reduce corruption and improve transparency across the global markets.

While Fink did not name a specific network, the most plausible candidate could be ETH, based on BlackRock’s own initiatives and public statements that emphasized the role of ETH in asset tokenization. The firm has consistently highlighted ETH as a core platform for its on-chain strategy. Meanwhile, BlackRock launched its BUIDL tokenized money market fund directly on ETH, a product that has already grown to over $2 billion in total value locked. “There’s no second best,” Ethereum Daily noted.

In the staking space, Bitmine has turned Ethereum staking into a multi-billion-dollar business. An analyst known as Milk Road has revealed that the company now has 1.83 million ETH staked, worth roughly $6 million at current prices, and plans to scale that figure toward 4.2 million ETH over time. Over the past months, Bitmine Immersion Technologies Inc. (BMNR) has accounted for nearly 50% of all new ETH entering the staking queue.

Staking at this scale is important because it removes ETH from the liquid supply and locks it into long-term infrastructure rather than keeping it for short-term trading. When one player is willing to commit billions of dollars worth of ETH to staking, it reflects confidence in ETH’s future economic prospects. A lower liquid supply, combined with sustained network demand, will create structural pressure over time.

How Support Built Through Multiple Market Cycles

Analyst Milk Road has also highlighted that Ethereum is holding near a critical support zone around $3,000, hovering just above the lower boundary of its long-term rising structure, an area that has acted as a stress test for ETH throughout the cycle. Historically, when ETH drifts into this area, the market will need to decide whether the weakness is temporary or structural.

The $2,750 level remains the key line because it has repeatedly stopped downside pressure after macro-driven or narrative-driven pullbacks, making it a reliable floor for the broader trend. As long as ETH holds above that level, the broader multi-year uptrend will remain intact.

Ethereum is currently trading under pressure after failing to push above the $3,000 level again over the past 24 hours, a move that is reflecting trader sentiment across the derivatives markets. ETH is currently trading at $2,925, down 2.7% on the day, after moving within a 24-hour range capped at $3,012.99 and finding lows around $2,909.60, according to price data from CoinGecko. 

As price action weakens, a notable change has been developing, with on-chain data showing funding rates drifting toward negative territory and derivative positioning beginning to tilt more defensively.

Funding Rates Slide As Shorts Gain Ground

Ethereum’s failure to hold above $3,000 is an important psychological break for traders, especially after several failed attempts to hold above that level in January. Price action over the past week shows sellers maintaining control after ETH rejected around $3,360 on January 18, followed by a steady push lower toward the high-$2,900s. 

Although the pullback has so far been orderly above $2,900, this decline has come alongside fading momentum across the derivatives market.

One of the clearest signals for this can be seen in Ethereum’s OI-weighted funding rate, which has been steadily compressing and is now edging toward negative levels. At the time of writing, Ethereum’s OI-weighted is at 0.0008%, close to breaking into negative territory and far below readings around 0.009%, which it registered earlier in the month.

Funding rates turning negative typically indicate that short positions are paying longs, meaning stronger demand for downside exposure. Funding spikes that previously accompanied the price rebound in early January have faded, and the overall trend suggests bearish positioning is slowly gaining the upper hand.

Open Interest, Liquidations, And What’s Next

Although Ethereum’s price action fell below $3,000, derivatives traders have stayed in the market, keeping total open interest at high levels. Data from CoinGlass shows aggregate Ethereum open interest increasing by 0.68% in the past 24 hours, which shows that many traders are not exiting Ethereum entirely. At the time of writing, the total open interest is sitting at about 13.36 million ETH, equivalent to roughly $39.19 billion.

Looking across major exchanges, Binance has the largest share of ETH open interest, accounting for about $8.95 billion, but it is down by 0.8% in the past 24 hours. CME follows with approximately $5.73 billion in open interest, up by 3.72% in the past 24 hours. Gate comes next at around $4.01 billion, while MEXC comes in close at $3.51 billion worth of ETH open interest.

Over the past 24 hours, Ethereum liquidations totaled $64.34 million, with long positions ($52.52 million) accounting for the majority of losses.

A hold above $2,900 could allow Ethereum’s funding rates to normalize and open the door for another rebound attempt to $3,000. However, a continued fall in funding rates into negative territory could see bearish control pushing Ethereum below $2,900.

Over the years, Ethereum staking has become one of the most vital and successful aspects of the broader ETH ecosystem, with big companies steadily jumping into the field. The majority of these companies, especially Bitmine Immersion, are revolutionizing ETH staking, turning it into a massive financial sector and edge.

Bitmine Monetized Ethereum Staking At Scale

After the entry of institutional investors, Ethereum staking has been transformed into a significant business opportunity from a technical requirement. At the forefront of this evolution is Bitmine Immersion Technologies Inc. (BMNR), a leading digital asset platform dedicated to improving the ETH ecosystem.

With its remarkable involvement in ETH staking, Bitmine Immersion is proving just how large this opportunity can be. The digital asset platform has successfully transformed Ethereum staking into a multi-billion-dollar enterprise by growing its validator operations and staking infrastructure.

As outlined by Milk Road on the social media platform X, the company intends to increase its present investment of 1.83 million ETH, valued at approximately $6 billion at current rates, to 4.2 million ETH. Bitmine’s plan and robust participation in ETH staking are a clear sign of the growing institutional appetite for on-chain yield.

This expansion demonstrates how staking is now about creating profitable, long-lasting businesses around ETH’s proof-of-stake economy rather than just protecting the network. Over the past month, Bitmine has been responsible for almost half of all new ETH entering the staking queue. 

Milk Road stated that staking at this scale removes Ethereum from the liquid supply and locks it away in long-term infrastructure rather than short-term trading. When a single player expresses a willingness to commit billions of dollars’ worth of ETH to staking, it points to an increased confidence in ETH’s future economics.

According to the expert, structural pressure is created by a reduced liquid supply and ongoing network demand over time. Given the sustained growth in institutional staking, Milk Road is confident that ETH’s price will move higher in the foreseeable future.

ETH Powering Crypto Native Financial Rails

With crypto native financial rails expanding, Ethereum is increasingly being positioned as the core infrastructure for major financial firms. JP Morgan asset management firm has confirmed this narrative with its latest fund launched on the ETH network.

Milk Road has reported that JP Morgan has introduced a tokenized money market fund on ETH, which is now live and already holds over $100 million in US treasuries. The rails are native to cryptocurrency, and the product appears to be traditional finance.

In reality, there is no separation, and there is only a financial product operating on the trains that make the most sense. Interestingly, this is how institutions move into new systems. “Incrementally, and only after the rules are clear enough to deploy real capital. Once they are live, they don’t leave,” Milk Road stated.

An inactive Ethereum whale has just re-entered the trading scene, withdrawing over $15 million worth of ETH in just a single day. Considering Ethereum’s slow price growth over the past few months and the whale’s sudden appearance despite being dormant for months, there could be a possibility of insider trading.

Dormant Ethereum Whale Moves $15 Million ETH

A sudden $15.14 million Ethereum transaction has caught the crypto market’s attention, with the move either driven by insider knowledge or simple strategic positioning. According to data from blockchain analytics platform, Onchain Lens, the transfer shifted approximately 5,099 ETH from a dormant wallet address on Kraken into active circulation on Thursday, January 22. 

Based on on-chain records, the whale, identified by the address ‘0x761F2F,’ has remained inactive in the market for more than three months. The last few times the whale was actively moving in the market were when it executed a series of stablecoin and HYPE transactions. The anonymous whale had initiated multiple million-dollar trades in UETH, USDT, and USDC. Meanwhile, the HYPE transactions were primarily token burns. 

After withdrawing 5,099 ETH from Kraken, Arkham Intelligence reported that the whale had transferred the ETH to Lido Finance, converting it into 5,100 STETH. While there is currently no evidence of insider trading, the timing of the transaction raises questions, especially given Ethereum’s muted price action over the past few months and the mounting selling pressure from large scale holders. 

Typically, insider trading in crypto occurs when individuals with non-public information make large transactions ahead of major market events that could influence market price. Currently, there has been no spike in Ethereum’s price, nor any major news that could suddenly affect its movements. In fact, ETH continues to trade lower, down by roughly 1.7% over the past 24 hours. Its daily trading volume is also down by 34.89%, signaling reduced confidence among traders and investors. 

Whales Go Long On Ethereum

While dormant large-scale players are suddenly re-entering the market, some active whales remain bullish on Ethereum’s long-term prospects despite its ongoing downtrend. According to well-known market analyst Max Crypto, an anonymous whale has just opened a $202 million long position in ETH with 15x leverage. 

The scale of the trade is extraordinary considering Ethereum’s recent volatility. It shows strong confidence in the cryptocurrency’s future price action and its potential to overcome its ongoing downtrend. Notably, the position has a liquidation price of $2,495, meaning that if ETH falls to that level, the trade could be forcibly closed by the crypto exchange, resulting in substantial losses for the whale. 

Market participants are closely watching the whales’ positioning, with some calling it a brave but chaotic bet. Others have even speculated that the position may have been taken based on insider information, fueling discussions about potential market moves and a possible bullish turnaround for ETH.

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink used the World Economic Forum stage to argue that tokenization needs to move from pilot programs to market plumbing and suggested that a shared blockchain standard could cut costs and even “reduce corruption,” a framing that immediately reignited the “which chain?” debate across crypto and specifically inside the Ethereum community.

Fink didn’t name a network. But the combination of BlackRock’s onchain product footprint and its own research positioning makes Ethereum the most natural candidate for the “one common blockchain” he alluded to, even if he kept it implicit.

Fink’s remarks, delivered in the language of infrastructure rather than crypto evangelism, leaned heavily on the operational case for digitized assets and interoperable settlement rails.

“I think the movement towards tokenization, decimalization is necessary. It’s ironic that we see two emerging countries leading the world in the tokenization and digitization of their currency, that’s Brazil and India. I think we need to move very rapidly to doing that.”

He then pushed the argument beyond payments and into capital markets: “We would be reducing fees, we would do more democratization by reducing more fees if we had all investments on a tokenized platform that can move from a tokenized money market fund to equities and bonds and back and forth.”

The most provocative line was his call for standardization and the trade-off he implied comes with it. “[If] we have one common blockchain, we could reduce corruption. So I would argue that, yes, we have more dependencies on maybe one blockchain, which we could all talk about, but that being said, the activities are probably processed and more secure than ever before.”

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink told the World Economic Forum he thinks the movement toward tokenization and digitization is necessary. We need to move very rapidly to doing that. With one common blockchain, we can reduce corruption.

The “one common blockchain” Larry Fink referenced… https://t.co/sMMcg4oyN1 pic.twitter.com/VhRvuwCx00

— Ethereum Daily (@ETH_Daily) January 22, 2026

Why Ethereum Is Coming Up

In the abstract, “one common blockchain” could be read as a generic appeal for shared rails. In practice, BlackRock’s public-market crypto lineup and its tokenization work have concentrated around Bitcoin and Ethereum.

On the ETF side, BlackRock’s flagship US spot products track bitcoin and ether — iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) — with ETHA launching in 2024 and now sitting in the center of the firm’s public-facing Ethereum exposure.

On the tokenization side, BlackRock’s first tokenized fund, the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), debuted on Ethereum via Securitize in March 2024, making Ethereum the original issuance network for what has become one of the market’s most closely watched institutional RWAs.

While BUIDL has expanded across multiple networks over time, the key point for Fink’s “common blockchain” framing is that Ethereum has been BlackRock’s default starting point for public-chain issuance, a meaningful signal in a market where “standards” tend to follow whoever already has the deepest liquidity, the broadest integration surface, and the most conservative counterparties.

The stronger tell came this week from BlackRock research rather than Davos soundbites. In its 2026 thematic outlook, BlackRock explicitly floats the idea of Ethereum as the infrastructure layer that collects the “toll” as tokenization scales. One slide asks: “Could Ethereum represent the ‘toll road’ to tokenization?” and adds that stablecoin adoption may be an early proxy for tokenization “in action,” with “blockchains like Ethereum” positioned to benefit.

In the same section, BlackRock cites RWA data “as of 1/5/2026” and notes that “of tokenized assets 65%+ are on Ethereum,” underscoring the network’s lead in today’s tokenized-asset stack.

At press time, ETH traded at $3,005.

Ethereum has taken a sharp turn after facing a firm rejection at the $3,220 level, with price breaking structure and slipping into a weaker posture. The speed of the drop and lack of strong buying interest raise an important question for traders: Is this merely an early warning sign within a broader uptrend, or the start of a deeper distribution phase that could pressure ETH further in the near term?

Rejection At $3,220 Signals Distribution, Not A Shakeout

Crypto analyst PEPE is Friend highlighted that Ethereum’s sharp rejection at the $3,220 level was deliberate rather than random. The drop was clean, with key structure breaking down, selling pressure accelerating, and price quickly flushing toward the $3,106 area, aligning with a classic distribution behavior rather than a simple shakeout.

Assessing the current price reaction, there are still no signs of a true reversal. The bounce has been notably weak, trading volume remains thin, and buyers have yet to show a strong commitment. Instead of signaling renewed bullish momentum, the move higher appears to be a technical pullback within a broader weakening structure.

The key technical zone remains well-defined. ETH is trading below the former support band between $3,170 and $3,200. As long as the price stays below this range, any upside move is likely to be viewed as a selling opportunity rather than the start of a sustained recovery. 

When this price action is viewed alongside Ethereum spot ETF data, the picture becomes clearer. While ETF flows remain positive daily, they lack strong momentum or a standout confirmation day. Capital appears to be absorbed rather than aggressively deployed, suggesting institutional demand is not yet strong enough to drive a decisive breakout. Until that changes, sellers are expected to remain in control below the $3,170–$3,200 resistance zone.

Ethereum Slips Below $3,062 As Bears Regain Short-Term Control

In an X post, Kamile Uray noted that Ethereum has closed below the $3,062 level, shifting attention toward the next major downside zone at $2,623. This level is now critical, as holding above it could allow ETH to stabilize and attempt another recovery move.

On the upside, a clean break above the pink-box resistance near $3,445 would activate bullish formations such as a cup-and-handle or an ascending triangle, opening the door for a move toward the $3,894 area.

Further strength would be confirmed if ETH manages to close above the $3,661 high, which would mark the first higher high on the daily chart relative to the previous downtrend, improving the bullish outlook. Still, $3,894 remains a key level, as it aligns with the 0.618 Fibonacci retracement of the last decline.

On the downside, a clear break below the $2,623 low would expose ETH to deeper losses, with the $2,274–$2,104 zone emerging as the next major support area. This region hosts a potential bullish “Libra” reversal setup, and Ethereum could once again attempt a bounce toward its previous all-time high if reversal confirmation appears there.

In the current market structure, the Ethereum price continues to move in a separate direction from its network’s performance and fundamentals. While ETH’s price struggles to initiate a major rally, the network is performing at a remarkable pace, breaking past prior all-time highs in most aspects of the blockchain, such as staking.

More Ethereum Getting Locked Away

Even in the ongoing crypto volatile landscape, the supply dynamics of Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency asset, are undergoing a quiet but meaningful shift. Currently, ETH staking is experiencing exponential growth, leading to a tightening supply as more ETH gets locked away.

Milk Road, a market expert, stated that ETH is becoming intentionally harder to access in the midst of the strong growth in its staking ecosystem. The chart shared by Milk Road shows that ETH staking has now hit a new all-time high, with millions of the altcoin presently scheduled to be locked away.

While more tokens are being locked into validator contracts, an increasing percentage of Ethereum’s total supply is essentially taken out of daily circulation. The supply of ETH taken by staking has never been this high, snatching over 30% of the entire supply in circulation. 

This points to growing confidence in staking as a yield strategy in the long term and a deeper commitment to the security offered by the network. Meanwhile, the Ethereum network is now secured by approximately $120 billion worth of staked ETH.

In addition to being removed from active circulation, Milk Road highlighted that this supply is also taken off crypto exchanges. When staking rises, and supply shrinks, Mlik Road stated that this trend is a positive signal for price appreciation in the long term, reinforcing the expert’s conviction in ETH to move higher. 

A Sharp Rise In ETH’s Network Activity To New Highs

On-chain activity has experienced a similar growth, rising to historical levels. Crypto Tice reported that Ethereum network activity is at an all-time high, highlighting the blockchain’s rising function as the layer of settlement for cryptocurrency and financial operations.

The network growth is observed among new wallet addresses, of which more than 393,000 new wallets were created in a single day, reaching the highest level ever recorded for the 7-day average of daily wallet creation. Such an increase in activity is noteworthy not only for its magnitude but also for its tenacity, occurring despite the continued volatility of the market.

It is worth noting that these types of growth are subtle as they do not show up at the tops, and momentum is gradually picking up again. However, when it does show up, it is accompanied by a quiet spike in adoption beneath the surface; a clear instance of how increasing demands follow an expansion in usage.

At the time of writing, the ETH price was trading at $3,119, demonstrating a nearly 3% decline in the last 24 hours. Its trading volume is also showing bearish performance, dropping by more than 16% over the past day.

As Ethereum (ETH) kicks off the year with a recovery past the critical $3,000 threshold amid a broader cryptocurrency market rally in early 2026, it continues to struggle against a key resistance level at $3,400. Currently, the second-largest cryptocurrency is entering a consolidation phase below this significant mark.

Technical analyst Ali Martinez has suggested that should the buying momentum observed in recent weeks persist, Ethereum could soon embark on a new rally that might bring it closer to reaching all-time high levels. 

Ethereum Poised For Potential Price Breakout

In a recent update shared on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Martinez pointed to on-chain indicators suggesting a fresh bullish sentiment among Ethereum investors. Notably, daily active addresses on the Ethereum network have surged, doubling to exceed 800,000 in just two weeks.

Martinez’s analysis further hints at a potential correlation with the rising demand for Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Since December 29, these investment vehicles have accumulated approximately 158,545 ETH, a sum valued at around $520 million, adding to the positive outlook for the altcoin. 

This heightened on-chain activity has created substantial support levels for Ethereum’s price action looking ahead, particularly between $2,772 and $3,109 that could prevent a new drop below these key marks. 

Martinez believes that if these support levels remain intact and buying pressure continues, a breakout above the crucial $3,400 resistance could pave the way for a significant rally toward $4,000—representing an increase of approximately 24.33% from its current trading level of around $3,217.

What Lies Ahead For The Altcoin?

Other analysts, such as those from BitBull, share an optimistic view of ETH’s price trajectory. The analyst has identified a potential inverse head and shoulders pattern forming in the 10-day chart, which could lead to a bullish price target of $5,000. This projection implies a remarkable 55.48% increase, exceeding last year’s record highs.

However, despite these bullish forecasts, Ethereum’s price has fallen by 3% within a 24-hour period, according to CoinGecko data. The cryptocurrency has yet to demonstrate the bullish momentum necessary to meet these targets.

Another encouraging factor for investors looking for upward price movement is liquidity. Market expert Ted Pillows recently noted that, following Ethereum’s latest price drop, the maximum pain point appears to lean upward. 

Historically, large investors and institutions have tended to “hunt” liquidity levels, which helps to reset positioning in the market and evacuate numerous retail investors. 

With approximately $3.4 billion in short positions at risk if Ethereum successfully breaches the $3,400 mark in the days ahead, the possibility of a significant price movement looms. 

Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com 

The Ethereum (ETH) 4-hour chart is flashing warning signs as price hovers around a critical support zone. After months of sideways trading, ETH remains trapped in a consolidation, signaling weakening momentum amid uncertain broader market conditions. According to a crypto analyst, ETH’s 4-hour chart suggests that the cryptocurrency could be heading for a major price dump if buyers fail to regain control. 

Ethereum Price Chart Signals Major Crash Ahead

A new market analysis by crypto expert Tyrex draws attention to a 4-hour chart, warning that ETH may be preparing for another price crash. Tyrex noted that Ethereum recently bottomed inside the purple rectangle on the lower timeframe, where price dipped below a key support around $3,260, briefly triggering a liquidity sweep. The move, however, was quickly reversed, indicating it was a fakeout rather than a true bearish breakdown.

Even after the rejection, the analyst revealed that Ethereum’s broader 4-hour pattern remains largely unchanged. He stated that ETH has also repeatedly returned to the same support area, raising concerns that demand may be weakening. Notably, when price keeps revisiting the same lows, it often signals growing pressure, not strength. 

On the chart, Ethereum is now consolidating just above the highlighted support zone. Momentum has slowed compared to the earlier impulsive rally, and the price is still struggling to gain upward traction. Instead of continuation, the market appears to be hesitating at a critical area.

 According to Tyrex, this hesitation could be a major risk. Repeatedly retesting the same lows makes the market more vulnerable, increasing the likelihood of a deeper price dump. Notably, each retest makes it easier for sellers to break through support as buyers gradually lose control. 

The analyst’s chart also outlines a potential path lower if support gives way. A drop beneath the purple zone would put Ethereum at risk of sliding toward the next downside area between $3,209 and $3,221. At the time of Tyrex’s analysis, ETH was trading around $3,312, which means a move to this range would have represented a roughly 3% decline.

However, as of writing, Ethereum has dropped to $3,200–which is already below the analyst’s initial breakdown target. This suggests that upward momentum has weakened further, and the recent price drop could signal an even larger decline, according to Tyrex’s analysis. 

Analyst Recommends A “Wait And See” Approach

While the Ethereum price navigates bearish trends, Tyrex has advised investors and targets to adopt a wait-and-see approach. He indicated that ETH’s outlook is not entirely bearish. According to him, if Ethereum can hold above $3,230, it would shift his bearish bias to a cautiously bullish one. 

Maintaining that level suggests buyers are defending the range and preventing further downside. In that scenario, ETH could stabilize and potentially climb toward $3,420, as highlighted by the green zone on the chart.

Ethereum continues to show resilience, holding its ground above key support levels even as price faces firm resistance near the $3,400 zone. The ability to sustain strength after recent gains highlights improving market structure, suggesting that buyers remain in control. As long as ETH stays supported above its critical trend levels, the broader upside narrative remains intact despite near-term hesitation.

Daily Bull Market Support Band Holds As Key Reversal Zone

Luca, in a recent ETH update shared on X, pointed out that Ethereum’s market structure has strengthened considerably over the past several days. The price has been able to hold above the 1D Bull Market Support Band, a level that has acted as a reliable reversal zone multiple times over the last couple of months. This sustained hold suggests improving market confidence and a reduction in immediate downside risk.

Alongside this structural improvement, ETH successfully reclaimed the 0.618 Fibonacci point of interest around the $3,100 region. This level is often viewed as a critical threshold in corrective phases, and holding above it typically signals that buyers are gaining the upper hand. 

Despite the positive developments, Ethereum has not moved higher without hesitation. ETH’s price recently faced rejection near the 0.5 Fibonacci level around $3,400, an outcome Luca noted was largely expected. Historically, this area has acted as a significant decision point, often attracting selling pressure and temporary pullbacks before the market decides on its next direction.

Looking forward, Luca believes the overall outlook remains constructive as long as ETH continues to trade above the 1D Bull Market Support Band and the 0.618 Fibonacci level. Maintaining these supports would keep the path open for renewed upside attempts, even if short-term consolidations occur, and the analyst’s positioning remains unchanged.

ETH Above Daily 200MA, Structure Remains Constructive

According to a recent post by Daan Crypto Trades, Ethereum is still advancing gradually while respecting the Daily 200-day moving average against Bitcoin. This type of slow, methodical grind often signals strength beneath the surface, suggesting that buyers remain in control even without aggressive momentum.

The analyst explained that prolonged consolidations and steady climbs like this typically resolve with an acceleration phase. Should ETH break out with stronger upside momentum, it could serve as a trigger for renewed interest across the altcoin market, helping lift sentiment and price action.

However, the structure remains conditional. Holding the Daily 200MA, highlighted in purple, is critical to maintaining this constructive setup. In parallel, Bitcoin must stay above the $94,000 level to maintain the broader low-timeframe bullish structure. As long as these conditions are met, the path of least resistance continues to favor further upside.

Ethereum finds itself in an unusual position where the fundamentals are strengthening, but capital flows remain hesitant. On-chain activity and the real-world tokenization of assets point to a network that is becoming increasingly useful and more deeply embedded in financial infrastructure. The price action movement shows that ETH is stuck in a range where it is struggling to attract sustained momentum.

Why Fundamentals And Price Are Diverging

Ethereum is stuck in the middle, with the price hovering around $3,300, which is slightly up from earlier this month, but it remains compressed within the same triangle that has been forming since November. An investor known as Pepeisfriend mentioned on X that this kind of price action usually means pressure is building and a move is coming. However, the direction hasn’t been specified. 

As a result of this move, big money doesn’t seem very excited. ETH whales have been slowly reducing their exposure since mid-December, with no panic selling, just lightening positions. This kind of behavior signals a lower willingness from large investors to carry risk at these levels. The ETF flows have shown that there have been a few days of positive inflows, but the overall net flows are still negative, showing institutions haven’t truly rotated back into ETH the way they did during the previous hype phase.

Meanwhile, Decentralized Finance (DeFi) activity looks weaker, and total value locked (TVL) has dropped noticeably, suggesting that on-chain capital is either leaving or just sitting on the sidelines. When DeFi isn’t active, ETH struggles to generate sustained upside momentum.

Investor Pepeisfriend concluded that ETH isn’t bearish, but also not inspiring confidence for a breakout. This is a clear “wait for confirmation” phase that must be held, but probably still too early to go all-in or expect an immediate breakout.

The Moment That Will Look Obvious In Hindsight

While the market is obsessed with layer-1 competition, Ethereum is transitioning from a speculative asset into a yield-bearing, productive asset. Analyst Senior pointed out that on January 15, 2026, Sharplink Gaming deployed $170 million worth of ETH into a combined staking and restaking strategy on Linea. This move shows that institutional treasuries have moved beyond simple accumulation to active yield generation.

At the same time, Visa is piloting stablecoin payouts directly on-chain, and EIP-7702 infrastructure is finally going live to eliminate biometric authentication seed phrases via Face ID. The user experience gap that once held ETH back has officially closed. This is the moment ETH is positioning itself as the most secure and liquid on-chain neobank financial platform in the world, and why the $3,500 breakout attempt will feel obvious.

Ethereum is showing bullish technical strength, with momentum indicators beginning to tilt back in favor of buyers. After weeks of uneven price action, the ETH/USD chart on the 3-day timeframe is now printing a MACD bullish crossover, a signal that has preceded some of Ethereum’s rallies in the past. 

The setup is notable because it proposes a situation where Ethereum is laying the groundwork for another sustained rally that plays throughout the entirety of 2026.

Bullish MACD Crossover For Ethereum

The latest analysis shared by Javon Marks points to Ethereum climbing steadily following another MACD bullish crossover in December 2025. This bullish crossover is visible on the 3-day chart, where the MACD line crossed above the signal line from below. 

This is a change that shows downside momentum has faded and bullish pressure is starting to rebuild among Ethereum traders. At the time of writing, Ethereum is trading around the $3,300 region, about 33% below its August 2025 peak, but holding above swing lows in November 2025.

According to Javon Marks, this recent price action is potentially the early stages of a much larger bull wave. This projection is based on the fact that the current crossover looks like an earlier crossover that occurred before Ethereum transitioned into an extended upside move in early 2025.

Back in April 2025, the 3-day MACD also recorded a bullish crossover after an extended period of consolidation and pullbacks that lasted for a few months. That signal was the start of a multi-month rally that steadily pushed Ethereum higher, eventually culminating in a new all-time high in August 2025.

Price action following that April crossover did not explode immediately. Ethereum first stabilized for a few days, then began forming higher lows above $1,500. Once resistance at $2,000 gave way, the rally gained much momentum and carried Ethereum from the mid-$2,000 range all the way above $4,800, broke above its old record of $4,878 that had stood since Nov. 2021, before finally peaking at $4,946 in late August.

Price Targets To Look Forward To

The final message of this technical analysis is that Ethereum is about to embark on a comparable rally and break out to new all-time highs. According to the updated outlook by Javon Marks, the first major level that defines this potential continuation is $4,811.71. This price acted as an important resistance level during the previous rally in 2025.

A decisive break and sustained hold above $4,811.71 would confirm that Ethereum has exited its corrective phase and re-entered into a broader expansion move. If that breakout unfolds as expected, the measured move projected from the chart points to $8,557.68 as a target to look forward to. This target is based on the magnitude of Ethereum’s last MACD-driven advance and would translate to a 160% increase from current price levels.

The Ethereum Foundation has published a step-by-step plan to let Ethereum’s main chain validate blocks using zkEVM proofs, reducing the need for validators to re-run every computation themselves. The proposal, shared via X on Jan. 15 by Tomasz K. Stańczak, Co-Executive Director at the Ethereum Foundation, lays out the engineering work needed across Ethereum’s execution and consensus clients, plus new proving infrastructure and security processes.

zkEVM on L1 – the planhttps://t.co/KLz7PoH6q9

— Tomasz K. Stańczak (@tkstanczak) January 15, 2026

Ethereum L1 Moves Toward zk Proof-Based Validation

Already in July last year, the Ethereum Foundation announced its “zk-first” approach. Today, Ethereum’s validators typically check a block by re-executing the transactions and comparing results. The plan proposes an alternative: validators could verify a cryptographic proof that the block’s execution was correct.

The document summarizes the intended pipeline in plain terms: an execution client produces a compact “witness” package for a block, a standardized zkEVM program uses that package to generate a proof of correct execution, and consensus clients verify that proof during block validation.

The first milestone is creating an “ExecutionWitness,” a per-block data structure containing the information needed to validate execution without re-running it. The plan calls for a formal witness format in Ethereum’s execution specifications, conformance tests, and a standardized RPC endpoint. It notes that the current debug_executionWitness endpoint is already “being used in production by Optimism’s Kona,” while suggesting a more zk-friendly endpoint may be needed.

A key dependency is adding better tracking of which parts of state a block touches, via Block Level Access Lists (BALs). The document says that as of November 2025, this work was not treated as urgent enough to be backported to earlier forks.

The next milestone is a “zkEVM guest program,” described as stateless validation logic that checks whether a block produces a valid state transition when combined with its witness. The plan emphasizes reproducible builds and compiling to standardized targets so assumptions are explicit and verifiable.

Beyond Ethereum-specific code, the plan aims to standardize the interface between zkVMs and the guest program: common targets, common ways to access precompiles and I/O, and agreed assumptions about how programs are loaded and executed.

On the consensus side, the roadmap calls for changes so consensus clients can accept zk proofs as part of beacon block validation, with accompanying specifications, test vectors, and an internal rollout plan. The document also flags execution payload availability as important, including an approach that could involve “putting the block in blobs.”

The proposal treats proof generation as an operational problem as much as a protocol one. It includes milestones to integrate zkVMs into EF tooling such as Ethproofs and Ere, test GPU setups (including “zkboost”), and track reliability and bottlenecks.

Benchmarking is framed as ongoing work, with explicit goals like measuring witness generation time, proof creation and verification time, and the network impact of proof propagation. Those measurements could feed into future gas repricing proposals for zk-heavy workloads.

Security is also marked as perpetual, with plans for formal specs, monitoring, supply-chain controls like reproducible builds and artifact signing, and a documented trust and threat model. The document proposes a “go/no-go framework” for deciding when proof systems are mature enough for broader use.

One external dependency stands out: ePBS, which the document describes as necessary to give provers more time. Without it, the plan says the prover has “1–2 seconds” to create a proof; with it, “6–9 seconds.” The document adds a two-sentence framing that captures the urgency: “This is not a project that we are working on. However, it is an optimization that we need.” It expects ePBS to be deployed in “Glamsterdam,” targeted for mid-2026.

If these milestones land, Ethereum would be moving toward proof-based validation as a practical option on L1, while the timing and operational complexity of proving remain the gating factors.

At press time, ETH traded at $3,300.

Ethereum is back to trading just above $3,300 per ETH in a slow bullish extension over the past week. After months of wide swings and failed follow-throughs above $3,000, the structure on the monthly timeframe chart is beginning to look bullish in a way that traders should take seriously. 

A recent technical breakdown shared by Merlijn The Trader on X shows that Ethereum is approaching a moment where consolidation could give way to forceful expansion, with $5,000 as the most important inflection point.

Bullish Pennant Says Bullish Momentum About To Be Unlocked

The chart showing the technical analysis from Merlijn shows a bullish pennant forming on Ethereum’s monthly timeframe. This bullish pennant shows that price action has been compressing between a rising support line and a descending resistance line, and this has created a narrowing structure since 2021. 

Ethereum briefly pushed above the upper boundary of this pennant in 2025, rallying to just under the $5,000 mark before momentum faded and corrective moves followed. Since then, price action appears to be gravitating back toward the former resistance line, now acting as a key area of interest. As it stands, Ethereum is now retesting the upper trendline of this bullish pennant for a final upward move.

Based on this projection, the first major barrier for Ethereum to break is around $3,300. A clean break above that level would likely open a path toward $3,600, an area that previously acted as a turning point during past rallies. The most consequential zone, however, is around the August 2025 all-time high of $5,000. A break above this zone would unlock bullish momentum based on the bullish pennant and play out in the majority of 2026.

How Can This Breakout Play Out?

Merlijn’s chart doesn’t stop at the breakout trigger once it breaks above the upper trendline of the pennant. It sketches a full road map for how the move could unfold once Ethereum leaves the pennant. The first step in that projection is a push above $3,600 before a more meaningful test around $5,000. Once Ethereum is able to break above $5,000, then the door is open for new price highs. 

However, the breakout is expected to come with volatility and retests, not a straight line upward, but still resolves higher if the pennant thesis holds.

From $5,000, the projection turns into a two-stage expansion. The first stage shows a force move, where Ethereum goes on a rally to as high as $6,000, then chops through another sharp dip to $4,000 and another recovery sequence before the larger leg higher. The larger leg, higher projected on the chart, points to $8,400 as the final price target zone for Ethereum.

Ethereum’s outlook has been improving its case. After a prolonged period of underperformance and skepticism, the network is starting to exhibit signs of renewed structural and fundamental strength.  While BTC continues to anchor the market as the primary store of value and digital gold, conditions are emerging that could allow ETH to outperform BTC over the coming period.

Why The Ethereum Narrative Is Gaining Strength

Ethereum has been seen outperforming Bitcoin. In a recent post on X, Walter Bloomberg revealed that Standard Chartered says that the ETH outlook has improved, and now ETH might outperform BTC, citing rising institutional demand and stronger fundamental positioning across key on-chain sectors. 

While weakness in BTC has weighed on the broader crypto market, ETH has continued to benefit from institutional-driven demand, and its dominance in stablecoins, decentralized finance (DeFi), and real-world assets (RWA) tokenization.

Standard Chartered also points to the increased throughput and potential US regulatory clarity that it could provide additional upside. In terms of valuation, the bank forecasts ETH at $7,500 this year and $30,000 by 2029, reflecting the expectations of sustained network growth.

The Co-founder of PinkBrains_io, a DeFi Creator Studio, DefiIgnas, has highlighted that Ethereum could outperform Bitcoin this year, and the reason is roadmap execution. While BTC will likely keep facing recurring waves of quantum FUD into 2026, ETH has a clear roadmap to prepare for future cryptographic risks. 

Furthermore, ETH is actually scaling. Gas limits on layer 1 keep rising, and zkEVMs will get full production readiness, making ETH cheap and fast enough for high-value transactions, while layer 2s will handle most of the trading and high-frequency activity.

Related Reading: Bitcoin And Ethereum Market Structure Points To Crypto Winter – Details

These upgrades are incremental, which means there’s no breaking news moment for ETH, but progress is happening fast. Early in the cycle, a lot of Degens loaded up on ETH before the bull run, but many got disillusioned and sold their ETH for BTC. “It would be fun to see the playbook reverse higher,” DefiIgnas noted.

A Different Liquidity Cycle Than Previous Bull Markets

Crypto liquidity quality witnessed a change in 2025. A technical analyst and show host of Crypto Banter, Kyledoops, reported that Wintermute noted that capital in 2025 stopped rotating broadly across the market. Instead, liquidity is concentrated into Bitcoin, Ethereum, and a small group of large-cap tokens. As a result, the long-anticipated wave of altcoin-wide liquidity never really arrived.

Meanwhile, the rise of spot ETFs and crypto treasury vehicles created a new, highly structured inflow channel that funneled flow into the top of the market. These vehicles break the crypto’s oldest playbooks. Price action is no longer driven by broad market expansion. It’s driven by where new liquidity can actually enter.

As the price of Ethereum slowly picks up pace following a brief rebound, a significant portion of the leading altcoin is currently being locked away in staking activity. Many institutions, such as Bitmine Immersion, have ventured into ETH staking, demonstrating the growing faith and interest in the investment method.

Bitmine’s Ethereum Staking Gets A Boost

In the burgeoning cryptocurrency market, Bitmine Immersion, a leading public company, continues to make decisive steps into the growing Ethereum ecosystem. Bitmine Immersion’s step into the ecosystem is evidenced by the company’s rising participation in ETH staking.

The public firm keeps extending its staking operations and reinforcing its commitment to on-chain yield generation following its latest move. This move was reported by Lookonchain, a popular on-chain data analytics platform, in a recent post on the X platform. Furthermore, the move coincides with staking’s continued development from a specialized tactic to a fundamental element of institutional cryptocurrency involvement, providing both recurrent benefits and a closer alignment with network security.

As seen in the report, the firm, led by industry leader and billionaire Tom Lee, has staked another 154,208 ETH valued at a staggering $478.77 million. Interestingly, the massive ETH staking was carried out within a 6-hour time frame, reflecting the firm’s robust conviction in the altcoin’s long-term prospects.

After the latest staking operation, the company has now staked a total of 1.344,224 ETH worth approximately $4.17 billion. By increasing its ETH stake, Bitmine Immersion is demonstrating its interest in Ethereum, from scaling upgrades to the ongoing expansion of DeFi and tokenized assets. 

SharpLink Deepens Exposure With Expanded Staking Efforts

Another company making waves in the Ethereum staking is SharpLink Gaming, a move that was initiated alongside the launch of its ETH treasury since June 2. According to a report from the firm’s official page on X, they recently generated over 500 ETH in staking rewards last week.

SharpLink ETH staking rewards underscore its expanded participation in on-chain yield and increasing interest in the altcoin and its ecosystem. This growth highlights a larger trend as more businesses are moving from passive holding to active network participation, making Ethereum staking a key component of their business strategy.

With this additional ETH, SharpLink’s total cumulative staking rewards are now sitting at 11,157 ETH since it was launched. By dedicating more of its ETH holdings to validators, the firm is indirectly contributing to Ethereum’s security and decentralization while reaping the benefits of a constant flow of rewards.

Prior to the development, SharpLink deployed $170 million in ETH with a first-of-its-kind enhanced yield on Linea. Specifically, this move integrates native ETH yield, restaking rewards from Eigencloud, and direct incentives from Linea and Etherfi within an institutional-grade qualified custodian with the help of Anchorage. SharpLink has declared this the most productive way to hold ETH with institutional-grade infrastructure.

Bitmine Immersion Technologies has been making a statement with its assertive accumulation and staking of Ethereum. In just a few months, the company has assembled one of the largest known ETH treasuries held by a publicly traded firm, moving steadily toward its stated ambitious goal of controlling 5% of the total Ethereum supply. 

According to a recent disclosure, Bitmine is now holding about 4.17 million Ethereum (ETH) tokens, which is about 3.45% of the total circulating supply. Furthermore, the company’s total staked ETH tally has now surpassed 1.2 million tokens. 

Heavy Stakes And A Clear Target

Bitmine is now the largest fresh money buyer of ETH in the world, and its string of ETH purchases has kept many Ethereum investors on the edge of their seats on how this might affect the price of the altcoin. 

Bitmine Immersion has funneled about $3.9 billion worth of Ethereum into staking under the leadership of Tom Lee, a move that shows conviction in ETH’s long-term prospects and the company’s desire to generate yield for its investors. Notably, the company’s total staked ETH tally has now surpassed 1.2 million tokens, bringing it close to 70 percent of the way toward its self-proclaimed “Alchemy of 5%” target of owning 5% of all Ethereum in circulation.

Bitmine’s approach to staking is starting to be much more than passive yield. The company is preparing to launch its own Made in America Validator Network (MAVAN), which it says will be among the largest ETH staking infrastructures in the ecosystem once live. 

This means Bitmine is now looking to transition from simply holding and staking Ether through third parties to becoming a staking infrastructure provider. If all of Bitmine’s staked ETH were managed through MAVAN and its partners at current rates, Ethereum staking fees could generate about $370 million for the company.

Growing The Balance Sheet To Sustain Ethereum Accumulation

Bitmine’s balance sheet extends well past its staking operations. The company now holds a diversified pool of assets spanning Bitcoin, Ethereum, other digital assets, and cash, with total holdings valued at around $14 billion, including its just over 4 million ETH. 

Interestingly, the company has continued to add to its holdings in recent weeks, even as it increases its liquid cash position. The most recent purchase was of 24,266 ETH last week.

At the same time, the company made a corporate decision that it says is critical to sustaining this strategy of steadily accumulating more Ethereum tokens. Notably, Bitmine is now seeking a positive 50.1% shareholder vote to increase its authorized share count at its upcoming annual stockholder meeting scheduled for January 15, 2026. 

According to the company, the current authorization of 500 million shares is close to being fully utilized, and once that limitation is reached, its ability to continue acquiring Ethereum at the current pace would slow down massively.

Vitalik Buterin is arguing that Ethereum’s long-term credibility hinges on a standard usually applied to applications, not base layers: the chain should remain meaningfully usable even if its stewards “walk away.” In a Jan. 12 post on X, the Ethereum co-founder framed the “walkaway test” as a requirement for a settlement layer meant to host “trustless and trust-minimized applications” across finance, governance, and beyond.

Buterin’s premise is that Ethereum’s core promise breaks down if the protocol itself depends on continuous, human-managed upgrades to stay safe and competitive. “But building such applications is not possible on a base layer which itself depends on ongoing updates from a vendor in order to continue being usable — even if that ‘vendor’ is the all core devs process,” he wrote. “Ethereum the blockchain must have the traits that we strive for in Ethereum’s applications. Hence, Ethereum itself must pass the walkaway test.”

Ethereum Can’t Rely on Endless Upgrades

The post lands amid a broader, recurring tension in Ethereum’s culture: the desire to keep evolving versus the benefits of stability. Buterin’s formulation doesn’t call for freezing the protocol immediately. Instead, he argues Ethereum should reach a position where it could “ossify” without sacrificing its value proposition.

“This means that Ethereum must get to a place where we can ossify if we want to,” Buterin said. “We do not have to stop making changes to the protocol, but we must get to a place where Ethereum’s value proposition does not strictly depend on any features that are not in the protocol already.” In other words, Ethereum can continue to improve—but it should not need to, in order to remain a credible base for durable, user-owned systems.

From there, Buterin lays out the technical and economic conditions he views as prerequisites for passing the test. The most time-sensitive in his framing is cryptography. “Full quantum-resistance” should not be treated as an upgrade to postpone until the last possible moment, he argues, warning against “the trap” of delaying in exchange for short-term efficiency.

The protocol, in his view, should be able to make a straightforward claim about long-lived safety: being able to say Ethereum “as it stands today, is cryptographically safe for a hundred years.”

Scalability is presented as an architectural destination rather than a perpetual series of feature-driven forks. Buterin points to “ZK-EVM validation and data sampling through PeerDAS” as key components, and suggests an ideal end-state where improvements increasingly come via “parameter only” changes—potentially implemented through validator voting mechanisms akin to how the gas limit can be adjusted.

He also emphasizes state growth as a durability risk that must be addressed at the protocol level. The goal, as he describes it, is a “state architecture that can last decades,” including “partial statelessness and state expiry” so that sustaining thousands of transactions per second over long periods doesn’t make syncing or hardware requirements untenable. Alongside that, he flags future-proofing storage structures to match that environment.

Other items in the framework target known fault lines for decentralized execution: moving toward a more general-purpose account model via “full account abstraction,” ensuring the gas schedule is resilient against denial-of-service risks in both execution and ZK-proving, and hardening proof-of-stake economics so the system “can last and remain decentralized for decades,” including ETH’s role as “trustless collateral.”

Finally, Buterin highlights block building as a centralization pressure point, arguing Ethereum needs a model that can “resist centralization pressure and guarantee censorship resistance even in unknown future environments.” Buterin’s closing message is less about a single roadmap item than a governance and engineering posture: do the heavy lifting now so later progress can be dominated by client optimization and parameter tuning, not perpetual redesign.

At press time, ETH traded at $3,132.

Ethereum’s main network is witnessing a dramatic surge in activity, signaling renewed confidence and accelerating momentum across the ecosystem. Aspects like transaction throughput and user engagement appear to have pushed significantly higher over the past few weeks, breaking past prior peaks.

Another Historic Moment For Ethereum Network

Since the beginning of 2026, the Ethereum network has been hitting major milestones that reflect the blockchain’s efficiency and expanding ecosystem. Even in a volatile crypto landscape, ETH’s network usage and adoption have increased sharply, as evidenced by its rapidly growing active wallet addresses.

On-chain data reveals that the network has recently crossed a key threshold in terms of active wallet addresses following a sudden spike. From the report from Joseph Young, a market expert and narrator, the number of active addresses on ETH has surged to the highest level ever in its history.

This spike in user activity and interest signals more than just routine market noise and speculation. It shows growing adoption, increasing on-chain activity, and rekindled conviction in the leading ecosystem in the midst of general market instability.

After delving into the metric, the expert disclosed that the number of active 7DMA wallet addresses on Ethereum is sitting at over 811,500. As active address counts reached historic levels, the network’s fundamentals appear to have started surpassing its price performance. Should this performance hold, it is likely to play a huge role in shaping ETH’s next major move.

The blockchain’s performance extends beyond just massive active wallet addresses. Young added that Ethereum is the most proven network with more than 10 years of track record, underscoring its reliability and robust scalability.

During the period, ETH remained one of the most active and liquid crypto ecosystems by far. With several key updates over the years, such as the Fusaka Upgrade, the ETH network is now scaling faster than it ever did since its launch. 

ETH Carry Out More Transactions Than Ever

Given that a significantly high level of transactions is carried out on the network, Ethereum is still showing robust strength and a growing ecosystem. On-chain Foundation head of research, Leon Waidmann, shared a report that reveals that ETH is experiencing a wave of transactions, reaching unprecedented levels.

With over 2.2 million transactions being executed per day, the network has just hit yet another all-time high. The chart shows that the previous peak was positioned at 1.89 million per day, as recorded on January 10, reflecting its rising real-world usage in a period where network fundamentals are gaining robust significance.

While transactions continue to increase, the network’s transaction costs have remained extremely low. Swapping on the blockchain now costs just $0.04, Non-Fungible Token (NFT) sales cost about $0.06, borrowing fees are $0.03, and bridging costs, which are the lowest, are around $0.01.

Standard Chartered has set a new long-range target of $40,000 for Ethereum (ETH) by end-2030, while cutting its end-2026 forecast sharply, arguing that Ethereum’s relative setup is improving even as Bitcoin-led weakness has weighed on absolute crypto price targets.

In a research note, the bank’s digital assets analyst Geoff Kendrick framed 2026 as a potential inflection point for Ethereum versus bitcoin, despite revising down its medium-term ETH-USD path. “We think ETH’s prospects have improved. We therefore expect the cross to gradually return to its 2021 highs,” Kendrick wrote, pointing to a rebound in the ETH/BTC relationship as the core expression of his thesis.

Standard Chartered Recasts Ethereum Outlook

Standard Chartered now expects ether to end 2026 at $7,500, down from its prior $12,000 estimate, before rising to $15,000 in 2027 (cut from $18,000) and $22,000 in 2028 (cut from $25,000), with $30,000 penciled in for 2029 (raised from $25,000) and $40,000 by end-2030.

“I think 2026 will be the year of Ethereum, much like 2021 was,” Kendrick writes. The bank attributes the near-term markdown to Bitcoin’s drag on dollar-denominated crypto performance, with Kendrick noting that weaker BTC action has “weighed on the outlook for digital assets priced in dollars,” forcing lower absolute targets through 2028 even as Ethereum’s relative fundamentals strengthen.

Kendrick highlighted a set of Ethereum-specific supports that, in his view, are more likely to show up in relative performance than in immediate spot-price upside. He pointed to continued accumulation by Bitmine Immersion Technologies, which the note described as the largest Ethereum-focused digital asset treasury company, at a time when ETF inflows have “temporarily stalled” and broader corporate treasury buying has cooled.

He also cited Ethereum’s centrality to stablecoins, tokenized real-world assets, and DeFi as structural demand drivers, and emphasized execution on plans to increase Ethereum layer-1 throughput by roughly 10x over the next two to three years. “Analysis shows that higher throughput translates into higher market cap,” Kendrick wrote.

Regulation was flagged as a further potential tailwind. Kendrick pointed to the US CLARITY Act as a development that could be supportive for the sector and “particularly ETH” if it helps unlock another phase of DeFi activity. The US Senate is due to review the bill on Jan. 15 with possible passage in Q1.

For traders, the framework implies that Standard Chartered’s highest-conviction expression is less about pinning an exact ETH-USD level in the next 12 months and more about whether Ethereum can reclaim relative ground versus bitcoin as throughput, stablecoin-heavy activity, and policy clarity compound into 2026 and beyond.

At press time, ETH traded at $3,126.