Bernstein Bullish on Ether: Could Ethereum Be the Next Big Institutional Asset with ETH Price of $10,000?

• Bernstein analysts are convinced spot Ethereum ETF will be largely adopted by institutional investors due to its rewarding staking program and environmentally friendly consensus mechanism.
• Ethereum price is closely mirroring Bitcoin’s breakout, thus raising speculation on ETH further gains if the latter sets a new ATH soon.

The Ethereum (ETH) ecosystem has grown through the 2022/2023 crypto bear market to an environmentally friendly blockchain in preparation for the mass adoption of web3 products and digital assets. Despite the notable competition in the layer-one (L1) ecosystem, the Ethereum ecosystem has managed to remain the undisputed champion in the web3 space and digital assets. Furthermore, the Ethereum network has more than $45 billion in Total Value Locked (TVL) and more than $71 billion in stablecoins market cap.

In a bid to maintain its leadership position as a DeFi king, the Ethereum core developers are preparing to enable the Dencun upgrade on the mainnet network in the coming weeks. After a rigorous testing period over the past year, the Ethereum network will further lower the layer two transaction fees.

Bernstein Analysts on Why Ethereum Is Famous Among Institutional Investors

According to a recent report published on Monday by Berenstein Private Wealth Management, there is a 50 percent chance the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will approve spot ETH ETF by May 2024. The Bernstein analyst argued that the second-largest crypto asset ‘is probably the only other digital asset likely to get a spot ETF approval by the US SEC.’ 

Moreover, the same fund managers that had applied for Bitcoin spot ETFs and received greenlight are the same that are contesting to offer Ethereum-based spot ETFs. 

Worth noting that the fund managers lining up to offer spot Ethereum ETFs led by Franklin Templeton have already begun making changes following the lessons learned from the spot Bitcoin ETF application process. The demand for Ethereum from institutional investors is well grounded on positive fundamentals including a rewarding staking program and deep liquidity.

“Ethereum with its staking yield dynamics, environmentally friendly design, and institutional utility to build new financial markets, is well positioned for mainstream institutional adoption,” Bernstein analysts Gautam Chhugani and Mahika Sapra wrote.

Crypto Whales on ETH Buying Spree

On Monday, several crypto whales were spotted making huge withdrawals from the Binance crypto exchange. According to on-chain analytics firm Lookonchain, a crypto whale purchased more than 54k ETH worth about $154 million from Binance and DEX platforms. In a different instance, another whale purchased more than 21k ETH from Binance before the instrument rallied to a new yearly high.

Crazy!

A whale bought a large amount of $ETH again before the price of $ETH rose today!

He withdrew 100M $USDT from #Binance and spent 60M $USDT to buy 21,353 $ETH at $2,810.

Then he also withdrew 10,649 $ETH($30.68M) from #Binance. pic.twitter.com/ULNmfPwm2F

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) February 19, 2024

ETH to a New ATH Soon

For the first time since the Terra Luna UST-induced crypto capitulation, Ethereum price has rallied above $2,900. Having closed last week on a bullish note, Ethereum price is well positioned to trade more than $3,500 soon. Moreover, the large-cap altcoin, with more than $350 million in total valuation, has rallied more than 26 percent in the past two weeks to trade around $2,945 on Monday.