Standard Chartered's Head of Digital Assets Research, Geoffrey Kendrick, has characterized Ethereum's recent price pullback from its all-time high of $4,953 as a 'great entry point' for investors. The bank reiterated its bullish year-end price target of $7,500 per ETH, citing unprecedented institutional accumulation.
According to Kendrick, institutional buying pressure has been the primary driver behind Ethereum's recent surge. Since early June, Ethereum treasury companies alone have purchased 2.6% of the total ETH supply. When combined with inflows into spot Ethereum ETFs, this figure jumps to 4.9% of the circulating supply absorbed by institutional entities in just under three months. This pace of accumulation has surpassed the equivalent rate of Bitcoin accumulation during its 2024 breakout.
Kendrick emphasized that this wave of demand is 'just getting started'. He estimates that ETH treasury companies could eventually own 10% of the circulating supply, leaving another 7.4% of ETH to be absorbed—a potential supply shock that could accelerate price discovery. He also highlighted a structural advantage for ETH treasuries: the ability to capture Ethereum's ~3% staking yield and DeFi leverage opportunities, which U.S. Ethereum ETFs currently cannot.
This institutional conviction is reflected in recent ETF flow data. On Monday, August 26th, Ethereum ETFs attracted $444 million in inflows, more than double the $219 million that flowed into Bitcoin ETFs. For the entire previous week, while BTC ETFs saw outflows, ETH funds attracted over $628 million across Thursday and Friday alone.
Supporting this outlook, Kevin Rusher, founder of RWA ecosystem RAAC, noted that Ethereum appears to be in 'price discovery territory' despite short-term declines. ETH is up 17% over the past month, significantly outperforming Bitcoin's 7% decline. Rusher also pointed to reports of Bitcoin whales rotating $2 billion into ETH recently, attracted by its dual proposition of capital appreciation plus staking yield.
Further bolstering confidence, Ethereum-focused treasury company SharpLink Gaming (SBET) recently authorized a $1.5 billion stock buyback program, pledging buybacks if its NAV multiples fall below 1.0. Kendrick noted that valuations for such companies have normalized, trading below NAV multiples, which he interprets as a signal that Ethereum may have bottomed out.