EMJ Capital Predicts ETH Could Hit $10,000 as Institutional Demand Heats Up
Eric Jackson, founder and president of Toronto hedge fund EMJ Capital, believes ether (ETH) is on a path toward $10,000 in this market cycle, fueled by transformative developments and growing institutional interest.
In a recent X thread on Sunday, Jackson outlined his firm’s bullish thesis. He contends that markets are overlooking the potential impact of regulatory approval for ETH staking in exchange-traded funds (ETFs), anticipated by October 2025. Unlike the already-launched ETH spot ETFs, staking-enabled ETFs would turn ETH into a yield-bearing asset—an attractive proposition for institutional investors seeking returns and diversification.
Jackson said EMJ Capital’s models foresee a tightening supply as staking locks up more ETH, paired with rising institutional inflows and passive capital from traditional finance. Combined with Ethereum’s deflationary token model after the Merge, surging layer-2 transaction fees, and momentum in tokenizing real-world assets (RWAs), he sees significant upside potential for ETH.
“Ethereum is becoming much more than a speculative asset—it’s generating real revenue and transforming into an institutional-grade yield instrument,” Jackson noted. He projects a base case target of $10,000 for ETH during this cycle, with potential for $15,000 or more if layer-2 adoption and ETF-driven inflows surpass expectations.
While bitcoin remains the dominant market focus as it trades above $120,000, Jackson believes Ethereum is quietly cementing itself as a key pillar of blockchain infrastructure. He rejects the popular analogy of Ethereum as “digital oil,” instead comparing it to fintech and commerce platforms like Circle, Coinbase, Shopify, and Robinhood. EMJ Capital continues to hold a long position in ETH via the $ETHA ETF and plans to update its forecasts as new developments unfold.
Despite recent crypto market turbulence—bitcoin dropped from over $123,000 to about $116,000 in the past two days—ether has remained relatively resilient, declining only 0.6% in the last 24 hours. That resilience may be supported by moves from Nasdaq-listed SharpLink Gaming (SBET).
Earlier today, SharpLink announced via X that it has become the largest corporate holder of ETH, surpassing even the Ethereum Foundation. Between July 7 and July 13, the firm acquired approximately 74,656 ETH valued at around $213 million, averaging $2,852 per token. SharpLink’s total holdings now stand at roughly 280,706 ETH.
The purchases were partially financed by raising $413 million through an at-the-market (ATM) equity offering over the same period. Notably, 99.7% of SharpLink’s ETH is currently staked, generating roughly 415 ETH in staking rewards since launching its ETH-focused treasury strategy on June 2, 2025.
SharpLink also reported a 23% rise in its proprietary “ETH Concentration” metric since June 13, indicating greater ETH exposure per share. Chairman Joseph Lubin—a co-founder of Ethereum—said the company’s goal is to place itself at the forefront of digital commerce and decentralized finance by harnessing Ethereum’s network capabilities.
Technical Analysis
- ETH traded with high volatility between July 14 at 15:00 UTC and July 15 at 14:00 UTC, moving within a $132 range (4%), from a low of $2,933.50 to a high of $3,065.45.
- Overnight trading saw ETH slide from $3,013.65 to $2,933.50 around 03:00 UTC before stabilizing in a sideways channel between $2,960 and $2,990.
- A late-session rally propelled ETH from $3,000.02 to $3,051.89 within an hour, supported by 496,321 units traded—more than double the daily average.
- A sharp burst between 13:42 and 13:50 UTC pushed ETH from $3,029.14 to $3,065.37, gaining $36 in just eight minutes on elevated volume over 21,000 units.
- ETH successfully broke past the $3,030 resistance, hitting new session highs, although subsequent profit-taking trimmed gains to close around $3,047 as momentum faded.
