Ethereum has risen 33% this year, reaching a new record high of $4,955 on Sunday, but analysts at Standard Chartered believe that the digital currency and its associated corporate treasuries are still undervalued.
Geoff Kendrick, head of digital asset research at the bank, pointed out that treasury companies and ETFs together have absorbed nearly 5% of all circulating ETH since June, pushing the currency to a new record high on August 24.
However, he emphasized that this boom is just the beginning, arguing that "Ethereum and Ethereum treasury companies are cheap at current levels."
Kendrick estimates that treasury companies could ultimately own 10% of Ethereum supplies, with Bitmine alone targeting 5%. This outlook supports his year-end Ethereum price forecast of $7,500.
He described the recent two-day sell-off as a "great entry point" for investors.
Valuations of listed Ethereum treasury companies such as Sharplink (NASDAQ:SBET) and Bitmine (NYSE:BMNR) have fallen below those of MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR), which holds Bitcoin but does not benefit from staking yields.
Kendrick wrote, "Since Ethereum treasury companies can benefit from a 3% yield on Ethereum staking, I see no reason for the price-to-net asset value (NAV) multiples to be lower than the MSTR multiple."
He also noted SBET's commitment to buy back shares if its net asset value multiple falls below 1.0, which provides a "solid floor" for valuations.
Kendrick also argued that Ethereum treasury tools provide a structural advantage over U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs.
He described them as "regulatory arbitrage tools" that give investors access not only to the rising price of Ethereum but also to staking rewards and leverage in decentralized finance, which ETFs cannot provide under current rules.
Kendrick said, "I believe that Ethereum treasury companies are a better asset to buy than U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs."
The bank also noted that Ethereum has outperformed Bitcoin since the treasury accumulation accelerated in June, raising the ETH/BTC cross from 0.018 in April to 0.032.
