Citigroup analysts expect ethereum, the second-largest crypto by market cap, to drop to $4,300 by the end of the year, below its current price range around $4,450 and well below the $4,953 all-time high it hit on August 24.

Citi analysts have a bull case of $6,400 and a bear case of $2,200, according to a September 16 research note.

“The bull case is predicated on increasing activity, potentially from stablecoins or tokenization. The bear case, similar to bitcoin, will be driven by recessionary macro factors, particularly falling equities. As we move towards year-end, the uncertainty will drop, and the bull and bear cases move closer to our base-case,” the analysts wrote.

They added that flows into ethereum ETFs “have had a larger price-impact than bitcoin, although they explain less of weekly return variation.”

Meanwhile, others in the ethereum world are more bullish on its trajectory. Mark Newton, Fundstrat Global Advisors managing director and global head of technical strategy, said, “ETH en route to $5,500 into mid-October.”

This is also lower than the forecast from Standard Chartered Bank, which last month raised its price target to $7,500 by the end of 2025 and $25,000 by the end of 2028.

Standard Chartered’s Geoffrey Kendrick wrote in a Monday note that going forward, ethereum treasuries will see more inflows compared to bitcoin or solana treasuries and are more likely to be profitable.

“At the same time as MSTR imitators have surged in BTC DATs, the move into other assets, particularly ETH, has been nothing short of spectacular. ETH DATs now hold 3.1% of all ETH in circulation and SOL DATs hold 0.8%,” Kendrick wrote.

In other ethereum news, SharpLink Gaming, the second-largest corporate ethereum treasury, with 838,152 ethereum worth over $3.7 billion, announced it repurchased 1 million shares at an average purchase price of $16.67 per share as part of the $1.5 billion buyback program it started in August.  

The company has so far bought back 1.9 million shares, stating in a press release, “The company continues to believe its common stock is significantly undervalued in the market, and that stock repurchases represent the best method to maximize stockholder value under current market conditions.”