Standard Chartered: Ethereum Could Hit $7,500 This Year and Outpace Bitcoin

Ethereum is increasingly being viewed as the stronger long-term performer compared to Bitcoin, according to a new outlook from Standard Chartered.

The bank believes Ethereum’s fundamentals have improved enough to support the sustained outperformance of Bitcoin.

This outlook comes as Bitcoin and the broader crypto market attempt another recovery. Bitcoin is up 1.68% over the past day, trading at $92,500, while Ethereum is up 1.45%, trading at $3,150.

While both assets often see similar percentage price moves, Standard Chartered believes Ethereum may soon break out significantly, leaving Bitcoin behind.

Key Data Points

• Ethereum is gaining institutional favor as stronger fundamentals support long-term outperformance vs Bitcoin.

• Standard Chartered highlights Ethereum’s dominance in DeFi, stablecoins, and real-world assets.

• Major Ethereum upgrades in 2026 could boost speed, efficiency, and network scalability.

• Regulatory clarity and rising adoption could push ETH toward $7,500 this year, the bank says.

• Standard Chartered projects Ethereum to deliver 10x–12x returns long term, compared to just 4x–5x from Bitcoin.

Institutional Demand, Dominance in Stablecoins, DeFi, and Real-World Assets

Standard Chartered points to rising institutional interest in Ethereum as a key driver behind its improved outlook.

While Bitcoin remains the dominant store-of-value asset, Ethereum is benefiting from deeper utility across multiple segments of the crypto economy. This shift is gradually changing how large investors allocate capital within digital assets.

Moreover, Ethereum’s leadership in stablecoins, decentralized finance (DeFi), and real-world asset tokenization is highlighted as a major advantage. Most stablecoin liquidity and DeFi activity continues to settle on Ethereum, reinforcing its position as the primary settlement layer for on-chain financial activity.

In other words, as tokenized assets gain adoption, Ethereum could capture a large share of this growth.

Ethereum Network Upgrades and Regulatory Clarity Add Upside

Another factor is Ethereum’s improved network throughput, which strengthens ETH’s investment case. Ongoing scalability upgrades are making the network more efficient and attractive for both users and developers.

In particular, in 2026, Ethereum will deploy two major upgrades, Glamsterdam (mid-year) and Heze-Bogota (late-year). Both updates aim to significantly improve speed, efficiency, and censorship resistance.

These changes could put Ethereum on track for approximately 10,000 transactions per second (TPS) on Layer 1, with gas limits potentially reaching 200 million per block. Around 10% of validators may begin verifying zero-knowledge proofs instead of re-executing transactions, marking a key scaling milestone.

Beyond technical improvements, regulatory clarity in the United States could unlock further institutional participation. The U.S. Senate is making concerted efforts to pass the Clarity Act in 2026. Many commentators believe will encourage more regulated investment products.

Long-Term Price Outlook for Bitcoin and Ethereum

Based on these factors, Standard Chartered projects Ethereum could reach $7,500 this year, while it sees Bitcoin hitting $150,000. Relative to current prices, Ethereum would deliver a 141% gain, compared to a 63% gain for Bitcoin.

Longer-term forecasts put Ethereum at $30,000 by 2029 and $40,000 by 2030. The bank expects the ETH/BTC ratio to rise toward 0.08, last seen in 2021. By the 2029–2030 timeframe, Standard Chartered expects Bitcoin’s price to reach $400,000 and $500,000, respectively.

These projections imply a 10x to 12x upside for Ethereum, compared to just a 4x to 5x upside for Bitcoin over the same timeframe.