Compass Investments

– Standard Chartered has adjusted upward its baseline forecast for Ethereum ETH/USD to $7,500 by the end of 2025, citing stronger-than-expected demand from exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and increased activity on the network.

What happened: The new forecast comes less than two months after the bank outlined a bullish scenario of $8,000 to $9,000, which is now seen as a potential upside rather than a mainstream scenario.

In a note to clients, Jeff Kendrick, head of Western FX Research and Digital Assets Research at the bank, said: We believe Ethereum will continue to benefit from the positive feedback loop between price, network activity and investor inflows.

He added that the updated outlook reflects higher than expected inflows into ETFs and higher network activity.

The forecast revision follows a period of accelerating institutional inflows into Ethereum spot ETFs.

SoSo Value data shows that funds recorded net inflows of $524 million on Aug. 12 alone, marking six consecutive days of gains.

BlackRock’s ETHA ETF accounted for $319 million of that total.

Spot bitcoin ETFs also raised $65.94 million on the day, extending their streak to five days.

Standard Chartered estimates that ETF holdings could total between 2.39 million and 9.15 million ETH by the end of 2025, equivalent to 2-8% of traded supply.

Such accumulation can increase market liquidity and price movement, especially when combined with steaking.

Kendrick noted the possibility of a super whistle.

If ETF inflows and steaking take more supply out of the market than expected. Why it matters: Ethereum’s rally has brought it within striking distance of its November 2021 all-time high of around $4,878.

the previous bull market, Ethereum rallied more than 500% from the 2020 lows to the 2021 peak, and in 2017, it climbed more than 9,000% from trough to peak.

Standard Chartered expects Ethereum’s broader reach across decentralized finance (DeFi), tokenization and smart contracts to help it outperform Bitcoin BTC/USD over the next 18 months.

“Ethereum’s broader set of applications supports a higher ETH/BTC price ratio,

, Kendrick wrote. The bank also expects the yields on staking to remain attractive to investors, further supporting the asset’s appeal.

While the $7,500 forecast is the baseline, the bank stressed that ETF inflows above forecasts, favorable macroeconomic conditions and further network rollout could push prices higher.

However, the bank also recognized that weaker inflows or macroeconomic factors could limit the upside. “We believe Ethereum will continue to benefit from the positive feedback loop between price, network activity and investor inflows.,