EMJ Capital Predicts ETH Could Soar to $10,000 on Institutional Demand and Staking ETFs
Eric Jackson, founder and president of Toronto-based hedge fund EMJ Capital, believes ether (ETH) could climb as high as $10,000 during this bull run, driven by transformative market forces and surging institutional interest.
In a post on X on Sunday, Jackson explained why his firm remains strongly bullish on ETH. He argued that markets are underestimating the potential impact of the anticipated approval of staking-enabled ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) by October 2025. Unlike existing spot ETH ETFs, staking-enabled funds would allow investors to earn yield on their holdings, making ether far more attractive to institutions seeking yield-generating assets.
According to Jackson, EMJ Capital’s models forecast a tightening ETH supply resulting from increased staking activity, coupled with rising institutional demand and passive investment flows from traditional finance. He also highlighted Ethereum’s deflationary token supply following the Merge, expanding transaction fees from layer-2 networks, and growing momentum for tokenizing real-world assets (RWAs) as additional drivers of ETH’s potential price surge.
Jackson emphasized that Ethereum’s ability to generate meaningful revenue sets it apart as a network transitioning from speculation to an institutional-grade yield-bearing asset. EMJ Capital projects a base target of $10,000 for ETH in this cycle, with upside potential as high as $15,000 if ETF inflows and layer-2 adoption exceed expectations.
Despite bitcoin continuing to command headlines by trading above $120,000, Jackson believes Ethereum is quietly establishing itself as a critical piece of crypto infrastructure. He rejected the common analogy of Ethereum as “digital oil,” instead comparing it to leading fintech and tech platforms like Circle, Coinbase, Shopify, and Robinhood. EMJ Capital maintains a long position through the $ETHA ETF and intends to update its projections as new developments emerge.
While the broader crypto market has been under pressure, with bitcoin dropping from over $123,000 to around $116,000 in recent days amid profit-taking, ether has proven relatively resilient, slipping just 0.6% over the last 24 hours. A contributing factor to ETH’s stability is robust institutional interest, underscored by significant acquisitions by Nasdaq-listed SharpLink Gaming (SBET).
Earlier today, SharpLink announced via X that it has become the world’s largest corporate holder of ETH, surpassing even the Ethereum Foundation. Between July 7 and July 13, the firm acquired approximately 74,656 ETH for about $213 million, at an average price of $2,852 per token. The purchase boosted SharpLink’s total ETH holdings to roughly 280,706 tokens.
SharpLink funded this accumulation partly by raising $413 million through the sale of 24.5 million shares via an at-the-market (ATM) offering during the same period. Approximately 99.7% of its ETH holdings are now staked, earning around 415 ETH in rewards since the firm launched its ETH-focused treasury strategy on June 2, 2025.
SharpLink also noted a 23% increase in its proprietary “ETH Concentration” metric since mid-June, indicating a larger amount of ETH exposure per share. Chairman Joseph Lubin, who co-founded Ethereum, said this aligns with SharpLink’s mission to position itself at the forefront of digital commerce and decentralized finance by leveraging Ethereum’s infrastructure.
Technical Analysis
- ETH traded with significant volatility from July 14 at 15:00 UTC to July 15 at 14:00 UTC, ranging $132.08 between lows of $2,933.50 and highs of $3,065.45—a roughly 4% swing.
- Overnight trading saw ETH fall from $3,013.65 to a low of $2,933.50 around 03:00 UTC before consolidating in a channel between $2,960 and $2,990.
- A strong rally emerged in the final hour of trading, pushing ETH from $3,000.02 to $3,051.89, accompanied by exceptional volume of 496,321 units—more than double the typical daily average.
- A notable surge occurred between 13:42 and 13:50 UTC, when ETH jumped from $3,029.14 to $3,065.37, gaining $36 in just eight minutes amid volume surges to over 21,000 units, nearly triple the hourly average.
- ETH broke above key resistance at $3,030, reached session highs, but ultimately settled around $3,047 as some traders took profits and momentum cooled in the final minutes of the session.
