Arthur Hayes, co-founder of the defunct BitMEX exchange, has significantly raised his price target for Ethereum, predicting the token could reach $10,000 by the end of the year at the KBW2026 with Upbit event. Speaking at the Web3 private conference held at the Westin Seoul Parnas in Seoul's Gangnam district on September 28, Hayes noted that Robinhood, one of the world's largest retail financial platforms, made this choice, creating a new narrative for Ethereum that could significantly influence institutional adoption. Hayes explained that Robinhood's shift makes it much easier for other institutions to argue internally that they should use Ethereum as well, with the decision creating a cascading effect that could accelerate broader institutional adoption of the Ethereum ecosystem.
Hayes' $10,000 target represents a significant increase from his previous prediction of $5,000, with the Maelstrom executive now forecasting Ethereum could reach $10,000 within roughly a year, representing a nearly 238% gain from current levels around $2,650. As reported by Crypto.news, Ether is currently trading at $2,700 as of September 25, which remains 46% below last year's peak of $4,846. Despite the broad cryptocurrency rally, most major coins are still down significantly from their all-time highs, presenting a real challenge for achieving Hayes' ambitious price targets. The updated forecast reflects growing institutional confidence in Ethereum's security layer capabilities and its role in the evolving financial infrastructure.
According to AMBCrypto, US spot Ether ETFs received nearly $690 million in net inflows over five consecutive sessions from September 21-25, with BlackRock's ETHA accounting for $326.2 million of the weekly total and Fidelity's FETH receiving $174.1 million. However, institutional capital inflows have turned negative, with around $2.81 million leaving the market in the past 24 hours, dwarfed by the weekly inflow but reflecting weakening institutional interest. This pattern of capital flows has shaped Ethereum's price outlook over the past two weeks, with the altcoin consolidating inside a symmetrical triangle pattern near the apex after retesting the sideways range between $2,300 and $2,550.
Despite growing adoption by major financial institutions, Ethereum's network usage remains relatively modest, with 2.3 million daily active wallet addresses across its primary blockchain and all Layer-2 blockchains, down significantly from its peak of almost 4 million last year. According to Crypto.news, around 43.5 million ETH is currently staked across the network, representing 35.66% of supply with 889,387 active validators. The staking market shows approximately 1.61 million ETH waiting to enter staking compared with roughly 161,000 ETH waiting to exit, with the entry queue nearly 10 times larger than the exit queue. This staking demand removes ETH from immediately liquid supply while assets remain committed to Ethereum's proof of stake system.
As reported by AMBCrypto, Ethereum is trading in a symmetrical triangle pattern with its price near the apex, with the altcoin's movement showing a momentum indicator reading of 1.62, just above the neutral level. A break and hold below the lower resistance would trigger a move to $2,550 or lower if bears outweigh bulls, while clearing the upper resistance increases the chance of trading toward $10,000. ETH rallied from around $2,400 in mid-September and briefly approached $2,800 before sellers pushed the token back below $2,700. On September 23, Ethereum reached an intraday high near $2,789 before falling as low as $2,648, with the token remaining above its 4-hour 50, 100 and 200 period moving averages. The $2,800 region remains the first major barrier before ETH can attempt a move toward $3,000, representing a sustained break above that area would still leave Ether roughly 40% below Hayes' $10,000 target.
