Citizens Sees Ether Primed for $10K as Supply Tightens and Institutional Demand Surges

The bank sees growing adoption, tighter supply and rising institutional inflows driving a sharp ether rally within two years.

Updated Oct 17, 2025, 11:28 a.m. Published Oct 17, 2025, 11:02 a.m.

American bank Citizens said ether ETH$3,784.08 could climb above $10,000 in the next two years, citing growing adoption, increasing institutional inflows and a shrinking supply.

The bank said it expects accelerating adoption of Ethereum to deliver powerful tailwinds for the blockchain's native token ether, pointing to the network’s entrenched position as the leading smart contract platform.

Ethereum’s programmable infrastructure underpins decentralized finance (DeFi), tokenization, and a fast-growing ecosystem of on-chain applications, the bank said in the Wednesday report. Its strong network effects, active developer base, and modular scaling roadmap are key differentiators, enabling secure and high-throughput transactions.

With regulatory clarity improving and institutions beginning to commit capital, ether is increasingly positioned as the native fuel and collateral for this expanding digital economy, the report said.

The analysts view the cryptocurrency's fundamental value as being driven by surging demand alongside a contracting liquid supply, tying valuation closely to the scale of economic activity on the network.

The firm pointed to institutional adoption, exchange-traded fund (ETF) inflows, and real-world asset (RWA) tokenization as major drivers of net new demand, while staking, treasury absorption, and the EIP-1559 fee burn mechanism are simultaneously shrinking supply.

The bank estimated that by 2027, less than 50 million ether may remain truly liquid out of the roughly 120 million currently outstanding, with 35 million already staked and more expected to be locked up or burned as network activity accelerates. This dynamic, mirrors a corporate buyback effect, tightening float as usage expands.

The analysts noted that on-chain settlement volumes are on track for exponential growth, with ether's market capitalization historically moving in step with the total value secured on the network.

In a constrained float environment, even moderate capital inflows could have an outsized impact on price, Citizens said, projecting that ether could climb well above $10,000 in its base case over the next two years.

Read more: Ether Treasuries Are Going Mainstream: Crypto Investment Firm Bitwise

Gold Tests Key Resistance Level That Could Signal the Next Bullish Phase

Bitcoin is now just 7% of gold’s total market value as it nears a $2 trillion market cap.