Standard Chartered has sharply upgraded its outlook for ether, lifting its 2025 year-end price target to $7,500 from $4,000. Analysts at the London-based bank said stronger corporate treasury participation, a pickup in industry engagement and rising interest in prospective spot exchange-traded funds are supporting demand for the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency. The bank at the same time raised its longer-term projection for ether to $25,000 by the end of 2028, up from $7,500 previously. The new estimate would value the token at roughly five times today’s level and reflects expectations that Ethereum will entrench itself further as a settlement layer for decentralised applications and institutional staking. Ether was trading near $4,680 on Wednesday, its highest level since November 2021. Standard Chartered’s revised 2025 forecast therefore implies about 60% upside within the next five months. The upgrade comes ahead of Ethereum’s Fusaka hard fork, scheduled for November 2025, which will introduce 11 improvement proposals aimed at boosting scalability and node efficiency. Combined with growing balance-sheet allocations by corporates, the bank believes the technical roadmap could underpin a sustained expansion in ether’s market capitalisation.