Standard Chartered forecasts $500k Bitcoin and $40k Ethereum by 2030
Standard Chartered’s Geoff Kendrick targets $500k for Bitcoin and $40k for Ethereum by 2030. He says Ethereum could outperform on a relative basis.
He shared the forecast on the Milk Road podcast with John Gillen. The clip is here: Milk Road tweet with video.
At today’s reference prices of $66,400 for Bitcoin and $2,034 for Ethereum, his path implies about 7.5x for BTC and about 20x for ETH by 2030. That means roughly triple the relative return for ETH holders versus BTC holders if the targets land. Source: podcast clip.
Kendrick points to the ETH/BTC ratio as the gauge. He notes it near 0.03 now and sees 0.04 in the near term, a sign of ETH gaining on BTC. Source: podcast clip.
He adds a checkpoint. If BTC revisits $100,000 by end of 2026, ETH should trade near $4,000. That would be about 50% for BTC and about 95% for ETH from current marks. Source: podcast clip.
Why ETH first, in his view. He says large asset managers and banks often launch on Ethereum for perceived safety and reliability. He cites this as the first phase of real-world adoption centered on Ethereum, with activity spreading later. Source: podcast clip.
He also flags usage as a driver. Higher fees from growing stablecoin, DeFi, and tokenized asset activity on Ethereum would support the token’s value. Source: podcast clip.
Standard Chartered has not issued a formal research note with these exact figures. Background on the bank’s digital assets work is here: Standard Chartered Digital Assets.
Key numbers at a glance:
- 2030 targets are $500,000 for BTC and $40,000 for ETH source
- Multiples are about 7.5x for BTC and about 20x for ETH source
- ETH/BTC ratio seen moving from 0.03 to 0.04 near term source
- End-2026 checkpoint is BTC at $100,000 and ETH near $4,000 source
