Morning Minute: Ethereum to $7,500? Standard Chartered Thinks So

Morning Minute is a every day e-newsletter written by Tyler Warner. The evaluation and opinions expressed are his personal and don’t essentially mirror these of Decrypt. Subscribe to the Morning Minute on Substack.

GM!

As we speak’s high information:

Crypto majors rebound, Solana leads +9%; Bitcoin at $111,300
Customary Chartered raises Ethereum value goal to $7,500 for EOY
HYPE hits ATH on again of XPL brief liquidation wave
Google Cloud constructing their very own L1 blockchain
Myriad crosses $10M in lifetime quantity, provides new markets + liquidity

🌅 ETH $7,500? Customary Chartered Thinks So

Overlook about $5,000 ETH.

Goal greater.

📌 What Occurred

Customary Chartered has raised its year-end Ethereum value goal from $4,000 to $7,500.

The financial institution additionally tasks ETH might hit $25,000 by 2028 if present adoption traits proceed.

ETH’s key drivers, as they see them:

ETF accumulation: Since early July, ETH ETFs have scooped up over $8B in ETH and have now seen a internet $13B in whole inflows
Company patrons: Heavyweights like BitMine (concentrating on 5% possession) and SharpLink are stacking aggressively, treating ETH as a core reserve asset
Yield benefit: ETH affords staking yields (~3%) and DeFi utility (advantages BTC can’t match) making it extra engaging for treasury allocations.
Regulatory tailwinds: U.S. laws just like the GENIUS Act is fueling stablecoin progress (most issued on Ethereum), with the sector anticipated to eight× by 2028.
Tech upgrades: Ethereum’s roadmap contains 10× throughput enhancements, unlocking higher-value transactions and scaling its DeFi spine.

It’s a reasonably sturdy bull case.

🗣️ What They’re Saying

“ETH company treasuries can seize each staking rewards and decentralized finance (DeFi) leverage alternatives, which U.S. Ethereum ETFs at the moment can not. As such, we predict ETH treasury firms have much more progress potential than BTC ones.”

“Though these inflows have been vital, the purpose is that they’re simply getting began.”

“ETH and the ETH treasury firms are low-cost at as we speak’s ranges.”

– Geoff Kendrick, Head of Digital Property Analysis, Customary Chartered

🧠 Why It Issues

The mixture of ETF inflows + Treasury Firms shopping for billions + a stablecoin growth and regulatory readability makes for the cleanest setup ETH has had in its existence.

And the yield facet of ETH hasn’t even totally been unlocked but (ETH staking ETFs anticipated in This fall).

There’s a actual case to be made that it’s a stronger crypto reserve asset than BTC as a consequence of its yield-bearing / capability for use in DeFi.

We’re seeing that rotation actively play out now, with the ETH BTC ratio approaching 1-year highs at 0.041 (and historic BTC whales changing baggage of 24,000 BTC for ETH).

It looks like Wall Road is simply now setting its sights on ETH and its capabilities and use instances, and simply beginning to beat the drums on the ETH thesis.

There very nicely could also be room to run past $7,500…



🌎 Macro Crypto and Memes

Just a few Crypto and Web3 headlines that caught my eye:

Crypto majors had been inexperienced, led by SOL; BTC +1% at $111,200, ETH +4% at $4,600, XRP +4% at $2.99, SOL +10% at $205
CRO (+47%), JTO (+12%), Kaia (+10%) and HYPE (+10%) led to movers
Bitcoin’s 2-week Bollinger bands are at their tightest ranges ever seen, indicating an explosive transfer coming quickly
Hyperliquid briefly hit a brand new ATH at $51 earlier than retracing
The ETH ETFs pulled in $455M in internet inflows to start out the week vs $88M for BTC
Customary Chartered raised its ETH year-end value goal to $7,500 and $25,000 by 2028
The US Commerce Division introduced it’ll publish GDP knowledge on blockchain, pushing for transparency in financial reporting and distribution
MetaMask launched Google and Apple login assist, easing pockets restoration for mainstream customers
Gemini launched ETH and SOL staking providers within the U.S.
Google Cloud is creating its personal L1 blockchain named ‘Google Cloud Common Ledger’ aimed toward being a “credibly impartial” platform for monetary establishments

In Company Treasuries

In Memes

Memecoin leaders are inexperienced on the day; DOGE +5%, Shiba +3%, PEPE +2%, PENGU +2%, BONK +5%, TRUMP +3%, SPX +5%, and FARTCOIN +4%
GOATCOIN was the highest SOL onchain mover, working 14x to $12M

💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker

Here is a rundown of main token, protocol and airdrop information from the day:

🤖 AI x Crypto

Part devoted to headlines within the AI sector of crypto:

Total market cap up 1% to $1176B, leaders had been inexperienced
FARTCOIN (+4%), VIRTUAL (+3%), TIBBIR (+4%), aixbt (+2%) & ai16z (+1%)
DARK (+40%), GRIFT (+20%) and MOBY (+14%) led high movers

🚚 What is going on in NFTs?

Right here is the checklist of different notable headlines from the day in NFTs:

ETH NFT leaders had been principally crimson; Punks -3% at 46.8 ETH, Pudgy -3% at 10, BAYC +2% at 9.7 ETH
Artist PFPs had been high movers, with XCOPY’s Grifters hitting a 24.5 ETH ground ($112,000) and Sam Spratt’s Masks of Luci hitting 9 ETH ($41,000)
Bitcoin NFTs had been principally inexperienced led by Nodemonkes (+7%)
Summary NFTs had been principally inexperienced, led by Roach Racing (+48%) an Gigaverse ROMs (+13%)
Pudgy Penguins introduced a Nascar Labor Day weekend takeover, together with collectible playing cards at the moment are accessible at Japanese comfort shops