Ethereum Whales Accumulate as Bank Sees $40k Target

Standard Chartered has reaffirmed a long-term price target of $40,000 for Ethereum, arguing that the cryptocurrency’s current valuation does not reflect its dominance in decentralized finance and tokenized assets [1]. This bullish institutional outlook arrives as Ethereum’s price struggles to gain momentum, though on-chain data indicates that large holders, known as whales, are aggressively accumulating tokens [1].

Key takeaways

• Standard Chartered set a year-end target of $4,000 and a long-term target of $40,000 for Ethereum [2].
• Whale wallets holding at least 100,000 ETH increased their collective holdings to 17.41 million ETH, a nine-week high [1].
• The bank cites Ethereum’s dominance in stablecoins and expected growth in tokenized real-world assets as key drivers [2].
• Ethereum is currently testing a major demand zone near $1,700–$1,800 after failing to break resistance at $2,500–$2,700 [1].

Bank Analysts Draw Parallels to Amazon’s Dot-Com Era

Standard Chartered analysts highlighted a disparity between Ethereum’s recent price performance and its increasing network activity, comparing the dynamic to Amazon during the 2001 dot-com bubble [2]. They noted that while Ethereum’s price has declined roughly 60% from an August peak near $5,000 to trade around $2,000, internal metrics such as transaction volume and value locked in DeFi applications are improving [2]. The bank argues that Ethereum has "significant scope" to catch up to these internal metrics, particularly as Wall Street migrates to digital asset rails [2].

The analysts reiterated their forecast that the ETH-to-BTC ratio could return to 0.08, a level last seen during the 2021 boom, which implies a Bitcoin price of $500,000 and Ethereum at $40,000 by the end of the decade [2]. This projection relies heavily on Ethereum’s existing dominance in stablecoins, which account for 33% of transactions year-to-date, and the expectation that real-world assets (RWAs) on the network could multiply by 50x in the coming years [2].

Whales and Institutions Buy Into Market Weakness

While price action has remained under pressure, large-scale investors are positioning for a potential recovery. Data indicates that wallets holding at least 100,000 ETH have raised their collective holdings to 17.41 million ETH, representing 22.03% of the circulating supply [1]. This accumulation marks the highest level in more than nine weeks, suggesting growing conviction among large holders despite short-term fragility [1].

Institutional activity is also evident; Nasdaq-listed Bit Digital recently purchased 8,568 ETH worth nearly $20 million, bringing its total holdings above 158,000 ETH [1]. The bank further noted that the Ethereum Foundation is backing an "economic zone" set to debut this summer, which will allow digital assets to move more freely across networks built on top of Ethereum [2]. However, not all sentiment is positive; users on the prediction market Myriad give a 65% probability that Ethereum falls to $1,500 before rising to $3,000 [2].