Geoffrey Kendrick, the Global Head of Digital Assets Research at Standard Chartered Bank, compared Ethereum’s (ETH) current market performance to Amazon’s stock during the 2001 dot-com bubble burst in a report released on Thursday, May 28, 2026. The bank asserts that Ethereum’s price underperformance does not reflect ongoing improvements in its internal metrics, stating it is “just a matter of time” before the market corrects this divergence. According to the report, the network is exhibiting fundamental strength in scalability and throughput despite recent price weakness.
The comparison draws on a 2018 speech by Jeff Bezos, who described how Amazon’s internal business metrics improved even as its share price plummeted from $113 to $6. Geoffrey Kendrick noted that Amazon’s price eventually multiplied 1,000 times from those 2001 lows after adjusting for stock splits. He believes Ethereum will similarly catch up to its internal benchmarks, citing its dominance in the stablecoin, decentralized finance (DeFi), and real-world asset (RWA) tokenization sectors.
Standard Chartered highlighted that stablecoin activity accounts for 35% to 40% of all network transactions. While Ethereum price outlook weakens in certain technical models, the bank views high on-chain utilization as a precursor to a valuation recovery. The bank projects that the markets for stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets will each reach $2 trillion by 2028.
Standard Chartered maintains long-term targets despite price adjustments
The bank maintained its end-2026 Ethereum price target of $4,000 as of May 28. This follows a series of revisions earlier in 2026, where targets were moved from $12,000 down to $7,500 and subsequently to the current $4,000 level. Standard Chartered also released aggressive projections for the following years, forecasting $15,000 by end-2027 and $40,000 by end-2030.
To reach these figures, the bank utilized two distinct valuation methodologies. The first uses a “financial market” versus “currency” analogy, suggesting ETH could hit $35,000 if Bitcoin reaches $175,000. The second involves a portfolio optimization approach, which estimates a $26,000 valuation if ETH’s market cap catches up to Bitcoin’s, supported by a suggested 2% crypto allocation in global portfolios.
Analysts expect the Ethereum-to-Bitcoin (ETH/BTC) price ratio to eventually revert toward the 0.08 peak seen in 2021. This shift is expected as institutional investors increasingly view Ethereum as a primary settlement layer. This trend coincides with a period where Bitcoin exchange supply maintains multi-year lows, potentially shifting broader market sentiment toward on-chain utility assets.
Network upgrades drive record-high transaction counts
Ethereum’s internal metrics have been bolstered by the Pectra upgrade, completed earlier this quarter, and the Fusaka upgrade in December. These technical milestones have significantly enhanced scalability and user experience. Following the Pectra upgrade, daily transactions reached an all-time high of approximately 1.8 million, increasing from a pre-upgrade level of roughly 1.1 million.
Technical data confirms that network capacity has expanded to 50–100+ transactions per second (TPS) post-upgrade, up from the previous range of 15–30 TPS. Standard Chartered’s report also noted that average gas fees for simple transfers are approximately $1–3 post-upgrade, a marked reduction from the $5–15 fees observed previously. These improvements align with the Ethereum network outlook which emphasizes increased on-chain activity.
Human capital remains a key metric for the bank’s long-term optimism. Ethereum boasts the largest developer ecosystem in the industry, with nearly 32,000 active developers recorded in 2025. This deep pool of talent is cited as a structural edge that supports the bank’s belief in the network’s long-term utility and eventual price recovery.
Institutional adoption and crypto treasury accumulation
The report highlighted continued Ethereum purchases by Nasdaq-listed entities, such as Bitmine, as evidence of growing institutional confidence. According to findings from Standard Chartered, crypto treasury firms have purchased 2.6% of all ETH in circulation since June, a period prior to August 27, 2025. When combined with ETF inflows, this accumulation reaches 4.9% of the total supply.
Standard Chartered researchers expect that treasury firms will ultimately hold 10% of all ETH in circulation. The bank noted that this pace of accumulation at its peak doubled Bitcoin’s fastest accumulation rate seen in late 2024. Total Value Locked (TVL) also sits near all-time highs in ETH terms, further indicating that holders are retaining their assets on-chain rather than liquidating them.
As the network plans to increase Layer 1 throughput by ten times over the next two to three years, the bank remains fixed on the “Amazon moment” narrative. By focusing on the structural edge of the network rather than short-term price volatility, Standard Chartered suggests that Ethereum is positioned for a significant rerating as it follows the trajectory of earlier tech giants.