Standard Chartered Predicts Ethereum ETF Approval This Week, Calls For $8000 ETH This Year

British multinational banking giant Standard Chartered is standing by its $8000 ETH prediction for 2024 as the odds of a long-awaited Ethereum ETF approval have suddenly turned optimistic.

In a recent conversation with The Block, the bank predicted that Ether spot ETFs will go live in the United States this week, with “80% to 90%” confidence.

Standard Chartered Bullish On Ethereum ETFs

“After approval, we estimate that spot ETFs will drive inflows of 2.39-9.15 million ether in the first 12 months after approval,” said Geoff Kendrick, Head of FX Research and Digital Assets Research. “In U.S. dollar terms, that equates to roughly $15 billion to $45 billion.”

The analyst made the same prediction for ETH ETF inflows in a research note back in March, basing his figures on his expectations for Bitcoin ETF inflows on a market cap-adjusted basis.

It seems that this call was spot on.https://t.co/r5aGsFYmNO pic.twitter.com/tA9ZhU9OEH

— Josu San Martin (@josusanmartin) May 21, 2024

Since launching in January, Bitcoin spot ETFs in the U.S. have accumulated $12.8 billion of net inflows. While the funds faced modest outflows in April, they recovered in May as months-long outflows from the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) appear to have stabilized.

Bitcoin’s price and ETF flows were bolstered by industry-shaking news on Monday that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) called on exchanges to update their applications to list Ether spot ETFs on an accelerated basis.

The news signaled unprecedented engagement from the agency regarding the applications, suggesting they might approve the products before their response deadline on May 23. Bloomberg ETF analysts initially assigned a 25% likelihood of their approval before upping their odds to 75% on Monday.

Bullish Outlook For BTC And ETH

Standard Chartered was one of few banks to voice optimism that such funds would be greenlit despite a lack of SEC interest for several months before this week. As such, their bullish predictions for both ETH and BTC hold firm.

“Given that we now see bitcoin reaching the $150,000 level by end-2024, this would imply a level of $8,000 for ether,” Kendrick wrote.

Kendrick added that he expects the ETH/BTC price ratio to hold at 0.054 until the end of the year. By the end of 2025, he believes BTC will reach $200,000 per coin, while ETH will reach $14,000.