- Ethereum broke through the $4,000 barrier on Friday.
- Arthur Hayes says it could double in price this year.
- Other altcoins also rallied.
Ethereum hit $4,000 on Friday for the first time in 2025 and the first time since December, but analysts say the second biggest cryptocurrency could hit even higher prices before the end of the year.
In July, Arthur Hayes said the price could surge to $10,000 in 2025.
Why? Because a the passage of landmark stablecoin legislation in the US will likely embolden financial institutions to bet big on cryptocurrencies pegged to the US dollar.
Stablecoin issuers have become de facto funders of America’s deficit budget by buying US Treasuries, which means the crypto market’s liquidity is deeply tied to government debt markets, Hayes argued.
Tether, the biggest stablecoin issuer, holds $120 billion in US Treasury bills, per its most recent quarterly attestation.
And Ethereum is the prime stablecoin blockchain. The network makes up for 50% of the $268 billion stablecoin market, according to data from DefiLlama.
Ethereum has also benefitted from the a growing number of crypto treasuries scooping up the Ether.
A rough dozen of those firms already hold about 1% of Ethereum’s total supply, but analysts at Standard Chartered said in July that public companies can soon hold 10% of all available coins.
Geoffrey Kendrick, Standard Chartered’s head of digital assets research, that those companies gobbling up Ether will push the price as high as $4,000 this year.
This summer has also seen spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds attract Wall Street investors more than ever.
Ethereum’s price is still 18% below its $4,878 all-time high, achieved in 2021.
Rival cryptocurrencies like Solana and XRP have already notched record high prices this year.
Bitcoin, XRP and Solana also rallied on Friday.
Eric Johansson is DL News’ interim managing editor. Got a tip? Email at eric@dlnews.com.
