Standard Chartered reduces its Ethereum price forecast by 60% for 2025
Standard Chartered has lowered its Ethereum (ETH) price projection for 2025 by 60 percent. The bank now anticipates Ethereum to reach only $4,000 by the end of the year. This severe change followed Ethereum’s substantial price decrease in 2025, which saw its value fall by 42% since January and 52% from its December 2024 high. Ethereum is currently trading at roughly $1,929, with many analysts expressing concern over the asset’s short-term recovery.
The key reason for this bleak prognosis is Ethereum’s issue with growing competition from layer-2 solutions, which is lowering transaction fees and overall revenue. Ethereum’s scalability concerns have resulted in the creation of networks such as Coinbase’s Base blockchain, which offer cheaper alternatives to customers while shifting money away from Ethereum’s mainnet.
This pattern has caused Ethereum’s market capitalisation to fall by almost $50 billion.
Geoff Kendrick, Standard Chartered’s global head of digital assets research, stated that Ethereum’s economic fundamentals are deteriorating. The network confronts a high net issuance of ETH, and the decrease in petrol fees further reduces its earning potential. While Ethereum layer-2 networks were first viewed as a scalability solution, they are increasingly helping other businesses, such as Coinbase, rather than Ethereum. Kendrick claimed that these circumstances indicate a “structural decline” for Ethereum, requiring considerable reforms to restore momentum.
Ethereum’s long-term prospects may be linked to the emergence of tokenised real-world assets (RWAs), such as real estate and bonds, in which Ethereum invests. If RWAs take off, Ethereum may play an important role, but this will take time and is unlikely to reverse the current downward trend instantly. Kendrick also noted that Ethereum’s future growth may be contingent on the Ethereum Foundation taxing layer-2 networks to recoup some of the lost money.
Aksel Kibar, a licensed market expert, advised against believing Ethereum is undervalued, pointing out that the charts indicate no clear indicators of a reversal. He emphasised that market reversals usually take time, and Ethereum is still dropping.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin continues to outperform Ethereum, and Standard Chartered predicts that Ethereum’s value compared to Bitcoin will fall more. Although a broader market rally led by Bitcoin may help Ethereum recover modestly in the short term, it is unlikely to outperform Bitcoin in the near future.
Ethereum faces numerous hurdles, including competition from layer-2 networks, lower gas fees, and falling revenue. While there is room for long-term growth in RWAs, Ethereum’s immediate future appears dubious, necessitating significant modifications to reverse the current declining trend.