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The long trajectory of Ethereum became a focal point once again after Arthur Hayes provided comprehensive forecasts for the future of the institutions, the price potential and the competition space for the asset.
His comments came as Ethereum was trading near $3,200, having fluctuated between $3,060 and $3,440 in the past week. Major players like Tom Lee-led BitMine have also increased their Ethereum holdings at an unprecedented rate.
Ethereum becomes the institutional default
He believes Hayes says the market still doesn’t understand how much traditional institutions have integrated Ethereum. He argues that after years of failed experiments with private blockchains, banks are now realizing the need for a public settlement layer.
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“These organizations are finally realizing that You cannot own a private blockchain; You should use a public blockchain for security and real use“, he said.
He links this change to the stablecoin boom, which has forced banks to accept the value of the establishment on the chain.
According to Hayes, The Ethereum It is the only platform that has the security, liquidity and developer depth that educational institutions need.
This shift is expected to lead to a significant rebound in Ethereum prices in the next cycle, complementing aggressive Treasuries accumulation by companies like BitMine.
BitMine bought 33,504 ETH ($112 million) this week and 138,452 ETH (~$435 million) in December, bringing his total to approx. 3.86 million ETH. This volume of accumulation reinforced the narrative that sets the institutions for the next major cycle of Ethereum.
Privacy is still Ethereum’s biggest weakness, but the second layer will cover it
Hayes admits Privacy guarantees are still missing Need for major institutions. He points out that this is “the biggest thing that Ethereum does not have yet”, but says that Vitalik Buterin’s path is actively addressing this.
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Despite this gap, I argue that institutional adoption will not be delayed. Instead, institutions will publish Layer-2 networks Backed by privacy with trust in Ethereum for the establishment.
It is believed that Ethereum L1 remains a “pillar of security”, regardless of activities in L2 such as Arbitrum or Optimism.
“There needs to be a discussion on how the fees are distributed between the second levels and Ethereum L1”, he said, but he emphasized that this does not change the fundamental reality: the institutions must always ensure their operations with Ethereum.
This is in line with the current trends of the ecosystem. Stock market balances are at their lowest levels in many years The whales have accumulated more than 900,000 ethane in the last few weeksaccording to Santiment data.
The institutional architecture continues to take shape around Ethereum’s base layer, even as fees decline during the Layer 2 migration.
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Narrow field of winners: Ethereum first, Solana second
Hayes sees the future of the public blockchain coalescing around a very small group. It positions Ethereum as a clear long-term winner, with Solana in a distant but strong second place.
Solana is credited with the increase from $7 to $300 to Intense activity in meme coins in 2023 and 2024. However, he says that Solana “needs a new trick” to surpass Ethereum again.
While he expected Solana to remain relevant, he did not expect it to match Ethereum’s institutional role or long-term pricing power.
Hayes sees most of the other top tiers as structurally weak. And he refused Chains of high finance as monads It was considered overpriced projects that were likely to collapse after the initial pump.
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50 AAT to become a millionaire by the next election
Hayes made his digital prediction more explicit when asked how much ETH a person would need to become a millionaire in the next cycle.
It has been mentioned that Ethereum can reach $20,000which means that 50 ETH would be enough to reach a seven-figure wallet.
The BitMex founder hopes to achieve this goal price from the upcoming US presidential election. His view is consistent with the current supply environment: coin reserves are dwindling, institutions are hoarding, and treasure buyers like BitMine continue to invest hundreds of millions in ETH.
If Ethereum fails to live up to these expectations, Hayes says it will be because the narrative is breaking down.
Also, if the use of stablecoins slows down or institutions pull from on-chain trading, Bitcoin may outperform Ethereum for a long time.
However, I argue that the current market structure favors the long-term dominance of Ethereum, especially when banks prepare to implement Web 3 strategies on public infrastructure.
