According to CoinDesk, Geoff Kendrick, Head of FX Research, West, and Digital Assets Research at Standard Chartered Bank, predicts that the price of ether (ETH) has the potential to reach $8,000 by the end of 2026, compared to its current level just below $1,600. Kendrick attributes this potential growth to Ethereum's evolving use cases, which currently include non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and decentralized finance (DeFi). He believes that the platform's expansion into gaming and tokenization will add significant demand.

Kendrick also suggests that these developments will provide 'proof of concept' examples for real-world industries to adopt Ethereum over their existing systems. He expects significant progress in this area by 2025-26. In the shorter term, Kendrick predicts that the bitcoin (BTC) halving in April 2024 will help lift all boats, and he sees ether reaching $4,000 by the end of next year.

Looking further into the future, Kendrick views the $8,000 level as a stepping stone to the bank's structural valuation estimate of $26,000-$35,000 for ether.