The price of ether (ETH) has the potential to reach $8,000 by the end of 2026 versus its current level just below $1,,600, writes Geoff Kendrick, Head of FX Research, West, and Digital Assets Research at Standard Chartered Bank, CoinDesk reports. 

While Ethereum's dominant uses currently are non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and decentralized finance (DeFi), said Kendrick, an evolution towards gaming and tokenization should add "significant demand."

"Importantly, this should provide ‘proof of concept’ examples in which real-world industries come on-chain to exploit the benefits of Ethereum over their existing setups," he added. "We expect significant developments on these fronts by 2025-26."

In the shorter term, said Kendrick, the bitcoin (BTC) halving in April 2024 "should help lift all boats," and he sees ether hitting $4,000 by the end of next year.