Ether (ETH) climbed 3% between Thursday and Friday, July 10-11, 2026, significantly outperforming the broader cryptocurrency market as institutional demand for tokenized assets accelerates. The leading smart-contract platform hit a current price range between $1,743.10 and $1,750, fueled by corporate treasury accumulation and the successful expansion of layer-2 networks.
Despite this momentum, bulls have struggled to reclaim the $1,800 threshold on July 11, coming just days after the token traded near $1,814 on July 7, 2026. This recent volatility follows an 11% surge in July, though the asset remains 63.55% below its all-time high of $4,946.05.
Institutional giants drive tokenization on Ethereum
The Ethereum network outlook strengthens as core metrics suggest the asset may be undervalued relative to the volume of assets it secures.
Ethereum continues to dominate the Real-World Asset (RWA) market with a 47% market share, hosting $25 billion in tokenized assets on its layer-1 network. On July 10, 2026, J.P. Morgan further cemented this lead by tokenizing approximately $800 million in assets across two specific funds.
As institutions move beyond experimental phases, 50% to 65% of all stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets now settle on the Ethereum blockchain.
BitMine Immersion (BMNR US) has emerged as a major player in this supply absorption, adding 198,370 ETH to its holdings in the last 30 days alone. A withdrawal of 20,500 ETH, worth $36 million, was flagged from Galaxy Digital to a new wallet on July 10, matching previous treasury accumulation patterns.
BitMine’s treasury reserves now total $10.3 billion, illustrating a shift where corporate entities are becoming long-term holders of the network’s native token.
Robinhood chain and layer-2 ecosystem growth
The launch of the Robinhood Chain has provided a new avenue for asset distribution, netting $106 million in bridge deposits within its first week. The layer-2 network uses ETH as its native gas token, directly linking retail stock trading to the Ethereum ecosystem. Robinhood now offers tokenized stocks to customers in 120 countries, leveraging the blockchain for settling traditional financial instruments.
Geoff Kendrick, Global Head of Digital Asset Research at Standard Chartered, suggests this institutional integration will define the next two years. Kendrick noted that banks are choosing the network because the liquidity and institutional precedent are already established.
Similar to how whale accumulation and product inflows can shift market dynamics for smaller assets, the massive scale of Ethereum’s corporate treasury holdings—now over 4 million ETH—provides a unique fundamental floor.
On-chain metrics and the $260 billion TVL distortion
Leon Waidmann, Head of Research at Lisk, recently highlighted a historic valuation gap: Ethereum’s Total Value Locked (TVL) at $260 billion has surpassed the market cap of Ether itself, which sits at $210 billion.
Waidmann argues this distortion signals that “ETH is underpriced,” as the current relative valuation is lower than levels seen during the 2022 bear market. This occurs even as the Ethereum recovery outlook faces headwinds from a drop in active addresses to 3.2 million from a Q1 peak of 5.4 million.
Supply dynamics are tightening as Glassnode data shows ETH on exchanges fell from 18.76 million to 14.39 million since November 2025, a 23% decrease. However, short-term speculative interest has cooled. The perpetual futures annualized funding rate dropped to 3% on Saturday, significantly lower than the 12% peak recorded on Friday.
This suggests that while long-term institutional holders are accumulating, short-term traders are hesitating to push the price back above the $1,800 mark.
Revenue and validator statistics
While tokenization thrives, decentralized application (DApp) revenue has slowed, generating $11 million weekly compared to $20 million in the first quarter of 2026. Despite this, the network’s security remains at record highs. More than 39 million ETH, or 32% of the total supply, is currently locked in staking contracts.
With ETH inflation holding at roughly 0.75% since the Dencun update, the combination of exchange outflows and high staking participation continues to reshape the asset’s scarcity profile.