Standard Chartered Doubles Down on $40K Ethereum Price Target

Standard Chartered's analysts have reaffirmed their $40K Ethereum price target amid DeFi dominance. They argue that ETH is undervalued relative to its network activity and the billions parked in its decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem.

The bank points out a disconnect between Ethereum's price and its internal metrics, with over 200 million transactions processed in Q1 2026 and $43B-$45B in DeFi total value locked. This represents roughly 53% of all global DeFi liquidity.

Standard Chartered sees a similar dynamic playing out with Amazon during the dot-com bust, where Jeff Bezos defended his company's cratering stock by pointing to improving operational metrics. The bank expects Ethereum's price to 'catch up' to its internal metrics, implying a significant upward correction.

The analysts argue that Ethereum dominates two of the fastest-growing sectors in crypto: stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets. They expect sustained institutional demand, favorable regulation, and continued adoption as a store of value for Bitcoin to reach $500K by the end of the decade.