Standard Chartered has drawn a parallel between Ethereum’s current market struggles and Amazon’s performance during the dot-com crash. Geoffrey Kendrick, the bank’s digital assets research head, suggests that just as Jeff Bezos once noted that Amazon’s stock price didn’t reflect the company’s true value, Ethereum’s price is overlooking its network improvements. Kendrick emphasizes that internal metrics like daily transactions, stablecoin activity, and tokenization remain robust despite the price drop.
The bank maintains its price targets for Ethereum: $4,000 by the end of 2026 and $40,000 by 2030. These projections hinge on factors such as stablecoin market growth, regulatory clarity, and Ethereum’s dominance in real-world asset tokenization. Kendrick believes that as on-chain activity increases, the price will eventually align with fundamentals.
Critics point out that Standard Chartered’s previous crypto predictions have been inconsistent, and the bullish outlook depends heavily on favorable U.S. regulations. However, the analogy to Amazon during the dot-com era highlights a shift in narrative—Ethereum is now seen as a foundational layer for finance, similar to how Amazon survived and thrived after the tech bust. Whether Ethereum will follow that path remains to be seen, but the comparison underscores growing institutional interest in its long-term potential.