Where Will Ethereum go to in 2025?

Regaining momentum 

After a long stretch of underperformance, Ethereum is back on an uptrend, recently reclaiming $3,800. NFTs are booming again, and ETH-based altcoins are doubling weekly. With so much momentum behind ETH, the question is—how high can Ethereum go this year?

Stolen Thunder

There were two main factors behind ETH’s underperformance.

1. A shift toward meme coins

With the rise of pump.fun and Solana’s trenching culture, most altcoin liquidity moved to memes on SOL. The returns from holding the right pre-bonded meme for 20 minutes easily outpaced the ROI of holding an AI utility coin on ETH for a year.

2. NFT market collapse

After the 2021 cycle, sentiment around NFTs collapsed and most projects went to zero. PFP flexing lost its social status, and the valuations couldn’t survive a broader market correction. With NFT volume dried up, ETH took a hit because a large portion of its price action was driven by NFT trading.

Changing Tides 

While the Solana trenches are still alive and well, liquidity is starting to flow back into Ethereum-based alts. Institutional adoption is prompting investors to speculate on RWA, DeFi, and AI coins, most of which are built on ETH. As transaction volume picks up across these sectors, ETH’s price is rallying in tandem.

NFTs are also making a massive comeback. Volume on top projects is spiking, and whales are accumulating blue-chip collections at a premium. Pudgy Penguins passed 16 ETH again and Moonbirds doubled their floor in a day.

These two shifting narratives are pushing ETH closer to $4,000. And this is just the beginning. Alts haven’t even gone full turbo yet, and most people still don’t realize that NFTs are coming back stronger than ever.

Catalyst for a New All Time High 

Institutional adoption is the key factor that could push ETH to record highs. ETH ETFs are seeing growing inflows as funds and banks seek crypto exposure beyond Bitcoin. Ethereum treasury companies are also seeing massive capital inflows, putting additional buy pressure on ETH.

Peter Thiel recently acquired a 9% stake in Bitmine Immersion Technologies, an ETH treasury company. The stock is up nearly 800% this month. Meanwhile, Ether Machine is aiming to become the Strategy of Ethereum by optimizing staking yield. The company plans to begin trading under the ticker ETHM in Q4 of this year.

My Price Prediction

I still believe ETH offers the best risk-adjusted return in crypto right now (NFA). Large-scale institutional adoption will likely push the price to a new all-time high. My base case for ETH this cycle is $5,000. In a more bullish environment, we could see ETH hit $6,000.