Standard Chartered Bank Estimates Ether (ETH) To Reach Between $26,000- $35,000

British banking giant Standard Chartered has expressed its optimism on the future of leading altcoin Ethereum. Standard Chartered expressed its opinion in a research note published on Tuesday, September 7, 2021. The bank explains that although ETH remains closely linked to Bitcoin (BTC) in terms of price, the altcoin has several advantages over the leading cryptocurrency. 

It noted that Ethereum’s value proposition sets it apart from the rest, thanks to its position as the leading blockchain for decentralized finance applications. Ethereum has also started migrating to a new protocol that will increase scalability by introducing Proof-of-Stake and Sharding. 

From a performance point of view, Standard Chartered added that Ethereum 2.0 would enable the processing of more transactions per second, and the new burn model has enabled the protocol to be more deflationary. All of this makes Standard Chartered optimistic about the future of ETH, and it proposes that its value could rise to between $26,000 to $35,000. 

A Success That Is Partially Based on Bitcoin 

However, the report noted that for Ethereum to hit such values, Bitcoin will have to trade above $175,000. This threshold is the most optimistic expected for Bitcoin, according to the bank. If this trend is maintained, Ethereum would eventually catch up with Bitcoin, and the long-awaited “flippening” could occur. Standard Chartered, however, notes that betting on this happening poses risks. “While the potential returns may be greater for ETH than for BTC, the risks are also higher”, it stated. 

The UK-based bank is one of the few banking institutions that has expressed an intention to offer crypto-based services. It revealed earlier in the summer plans to launch an exchange platform for European institutions. At the time, the bank reiterated its confidence in crypto-assets. “We strongly believe that digital assets are here to stay and will be adopted by the institutional market as a very relevant asset class.”

Ether Recovering from a Sudden Market Dip 

Ethereum has been recovering from the flash crash that affected the crypto market yesterday. The market cap as at the time of writing is slightly above $400 billion, and ETH is exchanging hands for $3,400.  Several analysts believe that the leading altcoin could hit $6000 before the end of the year.