Ethereum (ETH) has followed Bitcoin (BTC) and much of the wider crypto market
lower over the past 48 hours, dropping below the key $2,000 support level and
reigniting concerns among some investors that a longer bear phase could be
underway. Even with the recent slide, Standard Chartered’s Digital Assets
Research Head, Geoff Kendrick, says the bank is not backing away from its
bullish long-term outlook for Ethereum. Ethereum Price Will Catch Up In a note
to investors on Thursday, Kendrick reaffirmed Standard Chartered’s core
projection for Ethereum’s performance over the next four years, including its
end-2030 target of $40,000 for ETH. He linked the current weakness to
something investors may eventually look back on as a confusing, even
misleading, signal. Rather than treating the price drop as proof that the
network is weakening, Kendrick argued that Ethereum’s usage metrics are
continuing to improve even as the token’s market value loses ground. Related
Reading: Hyperliquid (HYPE) In The Spotlight: Grayscale’s Latest Report Says
What Comes Next To illustrate the gap between price action and underlying
progress, Kendrick drew a comparison to Amazon during the 2001 dot-com bust.
His argument echoes a line often attributed to Jeff Bezos: that while a
company’s stock can go the wrong way, “everything inside the company” can
still be moving in the right direction. Kendrick specifically said that
Ethereum will “catch up” to those improving internal metrics and suggested
that investors are effectively watching a delay between operational strength
and market pricing. ETH Upside Signals Standard Chartered’s view leans heavily
on measurable indicators that Kendrick says support Ethereum’s position in key
parts of the crypto economy. One of the bank’s central points is Ethereum’s
role in stablecoins. Kendrick noted that 54% of all stablecoins are currently
issued on the network. He also said stablecoins make up around one-third of
all Ethereum transactions in 2026 year-to-date. Based on that momentum,
Standard Chartered projects the stablecoin market cap could increase sixfold
from current levels by the end of 2028. Related Reading: Perfect Crypto Week
In Texas: 6 Candidates Backed, 0 Misses—What To Track Next A second major
pillar of the bullish case is Ethereum’s position in tokenized real-world
assets (RWAs). Kendrick said Ethereum hosts around 62% of RWAs and about 68%
of active on-chain loans. He projected that the non-stablecoin RWA sector
could grow about 50 times to reach $2 trillion by the end of 2028. For
Standard Chartered, tokenized RWAs are likely to expand in a way that brings
Ethereum a significant share of the activity. Kendrick’s projections suggest
Ethereum could still capture roughly half to two-thirds of both tokenized
assets and the related category of growth, with Ethereum hosting an estimated
50% to 65% of those segments. Kendrick’s analysis keeps the forecast
unchanged: ETH at $4,000 by the end of 2026 and then $40,000 by the end of
2030. In the same reaffirmation, Standard Chartered lays out an extended path
through the intervening years, projecting $10,000 by end-2027, $18,000 by
end-2028, and ultimately $40,000 by end-2030. At the time of writing, ETH was
trading at $1,991, having retraced by 5% in the weekly timeframe. This means
that the altcoin is now trading 59% below its all-time high of $4,964, reached
last year. Featured image created with OpenArt; chart from TradingView.com

Ethereum (ETH) Drops Below $2,000—Why Standard Chartered Still Expects $40,000 By 2030

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