‘Most-Hated L1’: Arthur Hayes Thinks Ethereum Could Double in Price This Year

Bitcoin billionaire and former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes thinks Ethereum could reach $5,000 before the end of the year, nearly doubling in price and potentially marking a new all-time high despite the asset’s recent underperformance when compared to competing layer-1 coins like Bitcoin and Solana. 

“I think ETH could go to $4,000 or $5,000 this year,” Hayes told Decrypt at Bitcoin 2025 in Las Vegas. “I think it’s the most hated layer-1, and usually you want to be in the most hated asset in a turn of the cycle, so I think ETH could outperform.” 

Hayes’ latest prediction joins his recent bullish outlook on Bitcoin, saying earlier this month that the top crypto asset could hit a price of $1 million by 2028.

While positivity around ETH as an investment vehicle has not been popular over the last year amid Solana’s ascendence, momentum is building for crypto’s second-largest asset, which has now jumped more than 45% in the last month to $2,646.

A mid-May note from investment firm Bernstein points to stablecoins bringing interest back to their underlying networks as a reason for ETH’s recent performance. Ethereum maintains 51% of all minted stablecoin supply, according to the note.

Bernstein also pointed to the potential growth of the network via layer-2 networks, noting Robinhood’s acquisition of WonderFi, which operates its own ETH layer-2 network.

“​​Brokers such as Robinhood could potentially offer tokenized equities on their own blockchain, built on layer-2 Ethereum. Layer-2 chains use ETH for gas fees as underlying currency, thus helping drive distribution and demand for ETH,” wrote Bernstein analysts. 

Since that time, options markets have become more optimistic about Ethereum’s price, and earlier this week, another bullish outlook spilled in from investment analysts at Standard Chartered. The firm’s Head of Digital Assets Geoffrey Kendrick shared a price target of $4,000 for 2025 and $7,500 by 2029. 

A jump to $4,000—the number called out by Kendrick and the bottom of Hayes’ price prediction range—would be around a 50% jump from ETH’s current trading price of $2,648.

To get to $5,000, toppling its 2021 all-time high of $4,878, the asset would need to climb nearly 88%. But Ethereum has made sharp gains in short timeframes before, including earlier this month following the successful rollout of the anticipated Pectra upgrade.

Ethereum’s bounce-back comes following not only grumbles about ETH’s recent price performance, but also gripes about the Ethereum ecosystem and Ethereum Foundation. Earlier this year, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin adopted what some builders called a “wartime” persona on social media, and the Foundation has subsequently made a number of leadership and strategy shifts.

Decrypt spoke in further depth with Hayes about Bitcoin’s price prospects and beyond—stay tuned for the full video interview from Bitcoin 2025.

Additional reporting by André Beganski

Edited by Andrew Hayward