Ethereum could return to $15,000 in 2026 as traditional finance accelerates toward tokenization, stablecoins and bespoke layer 2 blockchains built on Ethereum, according to Vivek Raman, CEO and co-founder of Etherealize.
In a guest post on January 5, Raman described 2026 as the time when ETH will move from a decade of built credibility to an era of commercial deployment, arguing that “from 2026 onwards, Ethereum will become the best place to do business” as regulatory posture, institutional precedents, and infrastructure maturity converge.
Institutions will tokenize on Ethereum
Raman’s main contention is that tokenization is moving from proof of concept to large-scale product deployment, with Ethereum increasingly serving as the base layer of choice for institutions when assets are high value and operational requirements are stringent. He describes tokenization as a business process upgrade that consolidates assets, data, and payments onto a shared infrastructure, and he leans heavily on the idea that once institutions see efficiencies, they won’t go back.
“Tokenization upgrades entire business processes by digitizing assets, data and payments on the same infrastructure,” Raman wrote. “Assets (like stocks, bonds, real estate) and money will be able to move at internet speeds. This is a clear upgrade to the financial system that should have happened decades ago; global public blockchains like Ethereum make it possible today.”
The post cites examples of institutional tokenization activity on Ethereum, including money market fund initiatives from JPMorgan and Fidelity, BlackRock’s tokenized fund BUIDL, Apollo’s private credit fund ACRED (with liquidity focused on Ethereum and its L2s), and European holdings such as Amundi tokenizing a euro-denominated money market fund. Raman also highlighted tokenized products from BNY Mellon and a planned tokenized bond fund linked to Baillie Gifford that would cover Ethereum and an L2 network.
Stablecoins as a “green light” moment
Raman positioned stablecoins as the product market most suited to on-chain finance, citing “over $10 trillion in stablecoin transfer volumes in 2025” and claiming that “60% of all stablecoins are on Ethereum and its Layer 2 networks.” He argued that regulatory developments in the United States have reduced deployment risks for institutions, describing the passage of the GENIUS Act in 2025 as the moment when public chain stable rails actually received formal authorization.
As a near-term data point, Raman highlighted SoFi’s reported launch of a bank-issued stablecoin, SoFiUSD, on a “public, permissionless blockchain,” adding that the bank chose Ethereum. He suggested that this is the start of a broader wave in which investment banks, neobanks and fintechs explore stablecoin issuance – either solo or through consortium structures – within a single public chain ecosystem to maximize network effects.
Layer 2s as an institutional business model
Much of Raman’s thesis hinges on the idea that institutions will not converge onto a single chain, but will converge onto a single interconnected network, Ethereum and its Layer 2 ecosystem. He argued that L2s enable customization by jurisdiction and customer base while inheriting the security and liquidity of Ethereum, and he described the economics of L2 as particularly attractive to operators, citing “profit margins of over 90%” as the reason for which companies will want their own channels.
Raman listed examples including Coinbase’s foundation, Robinhood’s plans for an Ethereum L2 including tokenized stocks and other assets, SWIFT’s use of the Ethereum L2 Linea for settlements, JPMorgan deploying tokenized deposits on the foundation, and Deutsche Bank building a public network permissioned as Ethereum L2.
The $15,000 Ethereum Price Target
Raman also argued that ETH is becoming an institutional treasury asset alongside Bitcoin, describing BTC as “digital gold” and ETH as “digital oil,” a productive store of value linked to the economic activity of the ecosystem.
He highlighted four “MicroStrategy-equivalent” public companies accumulating ETH: BitMine Immersion (BMNR), Sharplink Gaming (SBET), The Ether Machine (ETHM), and Bit Digital (BTBT) and claimed that they had collectively purchased about 4.5% of the ETH supply over the past six months, compared to MicroStrategy’s 3.2% BTC ownership.
These dynamics underpin its “5x” forecast for 2026: tokenized assets amount to nearly $100 billion (compared to $18 billion estimated after growth of around $6 billion in 2025, with “66%… on Ethereum and its L2s”), stablecoin market capitalization expands to $1.5 trillion (compared to $308 billion), and ETH appreciates by 5x at $15,000 – an implied market cap of $2 trillion in his framing.
At press time, ETH was trading at $3,227.
Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
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