3 Reasons Ethereum Could Double by 2026 — and 1 Reason It Might Not

With Ethereum‘s (ETH 3.56%) price down by as much as 45% this year, investors may be surprised to hear that it could still double before 2026 rolls around — if the right things happen, of course.

So let’s take a look at three reasons it might climb 100% or more in the near term. I’ll also examine one big reason it might not double at the end, so reserve making a judgment about whether you want to buy it until then.

1. Sentiment is so bad it’s comical

It isn’t a stretch to say that Ethereum is the most disfavored of the major cryptocurrencies right now. Between a consistent deluge of pessimistic comments on social media, low energy at the chain’s conferences, and the coin’s high costs and slow transactions compared to its chief competitor, Solana, it has borne the brunt of more than a few jokes in the cryptocurrency industry. Of the 10 largest cryptocurrencies by market cap, Ethereum has underperformed all of them during the past 12 months, and by quite a lot, too.

Take a look at this chart:

Bitcoin Price data by YCharts

Worse yet, it’s also the very worst performer of the same group during the past three years, losing 39% of its value while the large majority of its peers posted decent growth. It’s no wonder investors are so sour.

There’s no rule that says overwhelmingly negative sentiment about an asset is guaranteed to be incorrect or misplaced. And there are real challenges that have caused this coin to lag behind the rest of the crypto market. But the mistake that its detractors tend to make is assuming that its problems will last forever, and that its bruised reputation is permanent.

There are a lot of people with a vested interest in fixing Ethereum’s issues and rekindling some enthusiasm from investors and developers alike. At some point, the gloomy sentiment will likely become mismatched with the progress that is made, assuming there is some being made. Thus, if the planned Pectra upgrade to the chain’s technology can deliver on that front later this year, it could well be the catalyst that triggers a reversal of sentiment, and a big increase in the coin’s price.

If that update doesn’t drive the coin’s price higher, there are still the future updates slated on the development roadmap.

2. New leadership brings new hope for change

Another catalyst for Ethereum to potentially double is whatever strategies the new leadership team of the Ethereum Foundation can come up with.

As of March 17, the Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to the development and adoption of Ethereum, will be run by a new pair of co-executive directors. This shakeup occurs nearly two months after a new strategy for scaling the chain’s ecosystem and its throughput was proposed by one of its co-founders, Vitalik Buterin. That strategy is likely to continue to advance alongside any proposals advanced by the new directors.

It’s likely that the fresh leaders will need some time to get settled before they can fully implement their plans. Still, if they make a major new announcement, it might give an immediate boost to the coin’s price.

3. The battle for critical emerging segments is far from over

For Ethereum’s price to rise over time, it needs to have a flourishing blockchain ecosystem of projects that investors want to invest in, developers want to build more of, and users want to interact with regularly in a way that generates value. If there’s a major segment of the cryptocurrency sector that’s starting to grow, Ethereum could capture growth by being the best place to start and run the projects and their tokens.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is one such segment where the chain is already very competitive. Per CoinGecko, a cryptocurrency data source, the AI sector in crypto is worth about $23.3 billion in terms of its market cap right now. Of that sum, $8.1 billion is hosted on Ethereum’s chain, distributed across a handful of different tokens.

It’s possible, and actually fairly likely, that the rest of 2025 will see a bumper crop of new AI tokens and AI infrastructure projects. If Ethereum’s heft makes it favored among developers, excitement about AI projects could easily push its price much higher.

One obstacle to doubling: A lot needs to go right at the same time

Investors should be aware that Ethereum might not double this year, or next year. Right now, the possible paths to accomplishing such a big rise would need to be realized in the same time period to power such a big move.

In other words, it would probably need to announce a new initiative of some kind, deploy an upgrade for the chain, show traction in a critical emerging segment, and cheer up investors all at once. That could still happen, but it is not wise to bet on it.