Ethereum broke below $2,000...Standard Chartered: "$40,000 by 2030"

▲ Ethereum (ETH)

While Ethereum investor sentiment has been shaken by the collapse of the $2,000 line, Standard Chartered reiterated its 20-fold increase theory, sticking to its $40,000 forecast for 2030.

According to crypto media outlet BeInCrypto on May 28 (local time), Standard Chartered reaffirmed its year-end price target for Ethereum (ETH) at $4,000 for 2026 and $40,000 for 2030. Although Ethereum fell below the $2,000 mark for the first time since late March, Standard Chartered did not withdraw its long-term outlook.

Geoff Kendrick, Standard Chartered's Global Head of Digital Assets Research, compared Ethereum's bearish trend to Amazon's stock plunge during the dot-com bubble collapse in 2001 in a report distributed to clients. Kendrick diagnosed that token prices are moving separately while internal network metrics are improving. He stated, "We see Ethereum's trend very similarly to how Jeff Bezos explained Amazon's stock price during the tech bubble collapse in 2001."

According to the report, Ethereum's transaction count and Total Value Locked (TVL) remain near all-time highs based on Ethereum. In contrast, the price has fallen by 57% from its peak of $4,946 recorded in August 2025. Kendrick predicted that the stablecoin market capitalization could increase sixfold by the end of 2028, and the tokenized real-world asset market could expand fiftyfold during the same period. He expects Ethereum to capture a 50% to 65% share in both sectors.

Following the price drop, retail investors flocked to buy the dip, but institutional fund flows moved in the opposite direction. Santiment analyzed that as the psychological support level of $2,000 collapsed, buy-the-dip orders from retail investors surged. Santiment analysts stated, "After falling below a key psychological support level, mentions of retail investors buying the dip exploded for Ethereum," adding, "When the crowd is overly optimistic, prices generally have room for further decline."

On Polymarket, the probability of Ethereum closing below $1,500 by the end of this year is reflected at 54%, with the trading volume for this bet at $6.4 million. Increased open interest and positive funding rates are creating exposure to a short squeeze of approximately $2 billion. BeInCrypto reported that this risk could increase when Ethereum reclaims the $2,000 mark. David Hoffman, co-founder of Bankless, argued that value is accumulating not in Ethereum itself, but in apps and Layer 2s.

*Disclaimer: This article is for investment reference only, and we are not responsible for any investment losses based on it. The content should be interpreted for informational purposes only.*