StanChart revises Ethereum’s 2025 projection to $4000, warns of ‘value destruction’ caused by L2s

StanChart revises Ethereum’s 2025 projection to $4000, warns of ‘mark destruction’ precipitated by L2s
Layer 2 networks assemble 'midlife crisis' for Ethereum, costing billions in mark loss, says Favorite Chartered.

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Favorite Chartered has revised its 365 days-pause mark goal for Ethereum (ETH) to $4,000 â down from its old forecast of $10,000 â citing structural weaknesses in the networkâs financial model.
In a overview file titled “Ethereum â Midlife Crisis,” the lender’s head of digital sources overview, Geoffrey Kendrick, argued that Ethereumâs shift to proof-of-stake and the upward thrust of Layer-2 (L2) networks like resulted in an erosion of the value captured by the main blockchain.
He estimated that Imperfect, the main L2, by myself has removed $50 billion in market capitalization from Ethereumâs core ecosystem.
In step with the file:
“Layer 2 blockchains were meant to toughen ETH scalability, nonetheless we estimate that Imperfect, a key Layer 2, has removed $50 billion from ETHâs market cap. Assuming no trade in route from the Ethereum Foundation, we see ETH-BTC continuing to head decrease.”
Considerations over L2 affect
The file pointed to a pair of components contributing to Ethereumâs underperformance. It acknowledged that whereas the community serene dominates in DeFi, NFTs, and tokenized sources, its skill to grab mark has diminished.
In step with Kendrick, the originate of the Dencun toughen in March 2024 exacerbated the pattern by extra empowering L2 alternatives, which now extract a higher a part of transaction charges whereas lowering customers’ charges.
He wrote:
“A Layer 2 that change into once developed to take care of the scenario of scalability in Ethereum is passing up all of the growth, whereas the main protocol is recording much less.”
The file steered that Ethereumâs GDP loss to L2s may perchance well perchance additionally surpass $50 billion over time until measures are launched to redirect more financial mark back to the main chain.
Kendrick proposed that Ethereum take be conscious of a “astronomical tax” on L2s, equivalent to how some governments tax international-owned mining companies extracting excess earnings.
ETH-BTC ratio decline
Due to those structural concerns, Favorite Chartered also decrease its Ethereum-Bitcoin (ETH-BTC) forecast despite the ratio being the least bit-time lows.. The lender predicted that the ratio would decline to 0.015 by 365 days-pause â a critical drop from the bankâs old goal of 0.05.
The reportâs bearish outlook comes amid a broader debate over Ethereumâs prolonged-term viability and whether its scaling alternatives, designed to toughen transaction effectivity, may perchance well perchance additionally pause up benefiting third-occasion networks higher than the Ethereum detrimental layer itself.
Despite the downgrade, the bank maintained a more optimistic outlook for Ethereumâs prolonged-term possibilities, forecasting a restoration to $6,000 by 2026 and $7,500 by 2027.
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