Arthur Hayes says he expects Ethereum to reach $10,000 by the end of the year, more than triple its current price near $2,700. The former BitMEX CEO made the call at KBW 2026 in Seoul, pointing to Ethereum's security and market size even as his own recent ETH trades have lost money.
Arthur Hayes, the former CEO of BitMEX, told an interviewer at KBW 2026 in Seoul that he expects Ethereum to hit $10,000 by the end of the year. That figure is more than three times the current price near $2,700, with Ethereum still trading about 46% below its all-time high.
The case for $10,000
Asked directly for his Ethereum price prediction in a clip CoinDesk posted from the event, Hayes gave a one-line answer: According to CryptoPotato: "$10,000 by the end of the year." He said he likes ETH because he can put a large amount of money into it without expecting a sudden 75% loss from an exploit.
Hayes also addressed why Ethereum has lagged other networks at different points of the cycle, attributing it to narratives. He pointed to Solana capturing the meme coin narrative and rising quickly, while Ethereum slowed as competing blockchains took some of the activity. Still, he argued Ethereum remains the most secure layer one because it has the largest market capitalization.
A rocky personal track record
Hayes's own ETH trades have not always been well-timed. In August, he sold 2,365 ETH at about $1,821, a loss of $241,000, after buying 7,213 ETH at an average of $1,923. That was not the first time: in July, he sold 5,900 units for nearly $10 million after buying them days earlier for $10.58 million, a loss of more than $600,000.
The prediction lands after a strong quarter for the asset. Ethereum gained nearly 70% in Q3 after two losing quarters, giving Hayes's year-end call a stronger backdrop than earlier in 2026. At the time of writing, though, Ethereum was down 1% over 24 hours and nearly 3% over the past seven days. It was still up more than 11% across two weeks and 9% higher than a month earlier.
Source: CryptoPotato
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