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After a lackluster performance in early 2025, analysts are increasingly optimistic about Ethereum staging a strong comeback in the second half of the year. James Harris — CEO of Tesseract, a Finland-based digital asset management firm with $500 million AUM — has made a bold prediction: ETH could rally 160% and reach $6,500 by the end of the year.
Staking Growth and Institutional Demand as Key Catalysts
According to Harris, a sharp increase in ETH staking and growing gas consumption from Layer 2 applications are major drivers of this bullish outlook. He also pointed to rising institutional interest and growing inflows into Ethereum ETFs as signs of strong momentum building behind the leading altcoin.
“We forecast ETH at $6,500 by end-2025, assuming continued growth in ETH staking participation, higher gas consumption from layer 2 applications, and no significant regulatory headwinds specific to Ethereum,” Harris stated.
He also noted that Ethereum’s upcoming Pectra upgrade has not yet been priced in by the market and could serve as a key trigger in the second half of the year.
Risks Still Linger
Despite the positive outlook, Harris cautioned that regulatory uncertainties — especially delays in SEC approval for ETH ETF staking features — could undermine price growth in the near term.
Meanwhile, other experts remain skeptical. Markus Thielen, CEO of 10X Research, projected ETH could fall to $2,300 — an 8% drop from current levels. He cited declining user activity on Ethereum, increasing Layer 2 competition, and growing threats from rival chains like Solana and XRP Ledger as key headwinds.
While companies like SharpLink Gaming and Bit Digital are increasing their ETH treasury holdings, Thielen maintains that Bitcoin remains the more attractive option for treasury strategies. However, he added that Ethereum’s expanding role in stablecoin adoption could shift the narrative in its favor.
According to Polymarket data, Ethereum has a 22% chance of breaking its all-time high of $4,878 before the end of 2025. In the short term, market fears are rising after reports that the U.S. government has moved ETH to Coinbase, sparking speculation of a potential sell-off.
