Hayes: Ethereum to Hit $10K This Year

Hayes Forecasts Ethereum Surge to $10,000

Arthur Hayes, the former CEO of cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX, has predicted that Ethereum could reach $10,000 by the end of the year. The projection, made during an interview at KBW 2026 in Seoul, represents a more than threefold increase from Ethereum’s current price, which hovers around $2,700. The digital asset remains approximately 46% below its all-time high.

Narrative Shifts and Network Competition

In a clip shared on X by CoinDesk from the KBW2026 event, Hayes explicitly stated his price target for Ether (ETH). He expressed a preference for ETH due to its perceived stability, noting that a substantial investment is unlikely to suffer a sudden 75% loss from exploits.

Hayes also attributed Ethereum’s performance relative to other networks at various points in the market cycle to prevailing narratives. He highlighted Solana’s rapid ascent, fueled by the meme coin trend, while suggesting that Ethereum’s slower pace allowed competing blockchains to capture some of the market activity.

“Ethereum pioneered this whole decentralized computer thing and then was the victim of its own success, was slow and whatever,” Hayes remarked. “And there were other challengers that picked up the slack.”

Despite these challenges, Hayes maintained that Ethereum remains the most secure layer-one blockchain due to its substantial market capitalization.

Past Trades and Market Performance

Hayes’s personal trading history with ETH has seen mixed results. In August, he reportedly sold 2,365 ETH at approximately $1,821, incurring a loss of $241,000 after an earlier purchase of 7,213 ETH at an average price of $1,923. This followed a similar situation in July, where he sold 5,900 ETH for nearly $10 million, having acquired them days prior for $10.58 million, resulting in a loss exceeding $600,000.

At the time of reporting, ETH had experienced a 1% dip over the preceding 24 hours and a nearly 3% decline in the last seven days. However, it showed gains of over 11% in the past two weeks and was up 9% compared to its price a month ago.

Hayes’s $10,000 forecast necessitates ETH appreciating roughly 3.7 times its current value. This significant increase is notable given that the token is still trading about 46% below its all-time peak of $4,946.

Quarterly Trends and ETF Inflows

Ethereum’s quarterly performance presents a different picture from its recent short-term fluctuations. Data from Coinglass indicates that ETH gained just under 70% in the third quarter of 2026, following declines of 29.26% in the first quarter and 25.28% in the second.

Simultaneously, the introduction of spot ETFs has provided an additional source of demand. Ethereum ETFs recorded net inflows totaling $892 million in September, with one trading day remaining in the month.

However, a streak of daily inflows that began on September 18 concluded the previous day with an outflow of $2.8 million. The preceding week had seen net inflows of $689.9 million. These inflows have collectively pushed the cumulative total to $13.95 billion.