Ethereum's 2026 Outlook: Institutional Growth and Tokenization Drive Value Increase
Ethereum is expected to see significant value growth by 2026 as institutions increasingly integrate with the on-chain traditional economy. The trend toward tokenized assets is shifting toward yield-bearing, DeFi-integrated forms, attracting substantial new on-chain capital to Ethereum.
According to Etherealize co-founder Vivek Raman, the moment for mass Wall Street adoption is now, with Ethereum potentially becoming the default asset in the on-chain economy. Ethereum Foundation ecosystem head James Smith notes that after tokenizing Treasuries in 2024, the focus by 2026 is on making such assets functional within DeFi, generating yield and serving as collateral.
Greater capital flow through Ethereum could dramatically increase ETH’s value and expand its role beyond DeFi into the traditional economy. However, the timeline for Ethereum's adoption remains several years behind Bitcoin's inflection point, making it unlikely for ETH to reach parity with BTC by 2026, despite following a similar store-of-value trajectory.
