How Wall Street Could Drive Ethereum to $10,000 This Year

Ethereum is up 175% in the past year, which is an astonishing rebound from the lows of late 2022. Recently, asset manager Bitwise turned heads with a prediction that Ethereum could surprass $10,000 this year. The prediction made a couple key points, but one stands out as a massive catalyst that could cause Ethereum’s returns to even surpass Bitcoin during the rest of 2024. 

What Bitwise Said

You can watch the interview with Bitwise’s Juan Leon on YouTube, it was during CoinDesk’s Markets Daily. During the interview Juan zeroed in on two clear drivers that could propel Ethereum’s returns. The first is Ethereum’s major Duncan upgrade. 

Ethereum engineers have been deploying Duncan on test networks, but it’s expected to go live on Wednesday, March 13th. The highlight of Duncan is new transactions utlizing “proto-danksharding” that promise to make transactions cheaper and Ethereum more competitive with rivals like Solana. 

This would obviously put Ethereum in a stronger position long-term, and lead to more media attention and developer activity, both factors that can drive Ethereum’s prices higher. However, there’s another coming catalyst for Ethereum that could be the biggest driver in its near-term returns. 

Ethereum ETFs are Coming 

While Ethereum’s 175% return the past year has been stunning, it does trail Bitcoin’s nearly 250% return. One major factor that’s been boosting demand for Bitcoin has been the launch of Bitcoin ETFs. Blackrock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) has become one of the most successful ETF launches in history. As of March 8th, the fund now has $13.2 billion in assets under management. That’s incredbble, as it just launched on January 5th. 

As you can imagine, the rise of Bitcoin ETFs have contributed significant demand and helped raise Bitcoin prices. The launch of a popular Ethereum ETF could likewise create a rally in Ethereum prices and cause it to outperform even Bitcoin in the months to come. 

This is where Leon’s prediction gets very interesting. Regulatory deadlines for Ethereum ETFs are due in April, and he predicted there’s a “50 percent to 60 percent chance” for approval. Then of course, even if initial regulatory rulings go against Ethereum, there’s a good chance ETFs holding ETH will eventually be approved. 

How High Can Ethereum Go?

Of course, there are a number of catalysts that will decide whether the Ethereum rally continues. General optimism in the crypto space helps, increased staking has led to less Ethereum held on exchanges, and as we discussed earlier Layer 2 transaction costs could soon be dramatically reduced (potentially by a factor of 10). That’s a lot of positives.

But it does seem whether Ethereum outperforms Bitcoin in the months to come will rely mostly on whether Wall Street finally gets in on the party with the approval of spot ETH ETFs.