Soaring Demand for Ethereummay Push ETH Prices to $10,000 in 2021
In a significant development, Ethereum (ETH) has seen a remarkable surge in its price over the past month, with a gain of over 65%. This upward trend can be attributed to a combination of massive institutional interest and whale accumulation, as well as Ethereum’s strong fundamentals.
Matt Hougan, the chief investment officer at Bitwise, attributes this rise to overwhelming demand from exchange-traded products (ETPs) and corporate treasuries. According to Hougan, ETPs and corporate treasuries have combined to buy 2.83 million ETH since May 15, which is more than $10 billion at today's prices.
Recently, spot ETH ETFs have been buying Ethereum at unprecedented levels, with over $2.6 billion worth of ETH being bought by whales recently. This institutional strategy shift is not unique to Ethereum; Bitcoin has seen increased demand due to ETPs and corporate treasuries buying more than 100% of all new Bitcoin being produced for the past 18 months.
Ether has started to consolidate at current levels over the past few days after hitting resistance at $3,800 three times. However, the network is expected to produce approximately 800,000 ETH over the same period, resulting in seven times more demand than supply.
The surging real-world asset tokenization market and the impending regulations on stablecoins are expected to boost Ethereum demand further. Institutional investors, including corporate treasuries, are increasingly viewing Ethereum as a core asset for decentralized finance infrastructure. Projects from major financial firms like JPMorgan and Robinhood align with Ethereum, further supporting long-term demand growth.
Market experts forecast this trend to continue, driving Ethereum's price potentially up to $10,000–$15,000 by the end of 2025 due to demand from ETPs and corporate treasuries seeking exposure to Ethereum as a functional economic and financial asset underpinning DeFi ecosystems and tokenization.
Notably, Ethereum ETFs launched in July 2024 did not perform well initially, seeing only $2.5 billion in inflows until mid-May. However, U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs have already attracted historic inflows, such as $2.1 billion in one week, with BlackRock’s ETHA ETF drawing $426 million in July 2025 alone.
Prominent investors like Arthur Hayes and Tom Lee have forecast significant upward price targets based on growing adoption by traditional finance and DeFi expansion. This optimistic outlook is further supported by Ethereum's outperformance of Bitcoin over the past month, with a gain of 67% from around $2,250.
At the time of writing, Ether prices have traded relatively flat over the past 24 hours, with the asset changing hands for $3,720. As the trend of ETH being bought by treasury companies is expected to accelerate, Ethereum’s price rally may continue to be driven by institutional capital inflows via ETFs and increased corporate treasury adoption.
- The surge in Ethereum's price can be partly attributed to the increasing demand from both exchange-traded products (ETPs) and corporate treasuries, as suggested by Matt Hougan, the chief investment officer at Bitwise.
- Recently, institutional investors like corporate treasuries have been buying more than 100% of all new Bitcoin being produced for the past 18 months, demonstrating a similar trend in the crypto market, not just for Ethereum.
- The surging real-world asset tokenization market, upcoming stablecoin regulations, and growing interest from institutional investors could drive Ethereum's demand even higher, potentially pushing its price up to $10,000–$15,000 by the end of 2025, according to market experts.
