Ether’s price has fallen sharply in 2026 as the broader crypto market weakens, but bulls argue the weakness could set the stage for a durable rebound. Like Bitcoin, Ether’s price is being constrained by a murky macro backdrop, yet such pressures could ease, allowing a rebound later this year or in the coming years.
Ether is the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum blockchain and has shed more than a third of its value this year amid the broader market’s swoon. Since its 2022 shift to proof-of-stake, mining is no longer possible; Ether can be staked to earn rewards while smart contracts support a wide range of apps.
Today, Ether’s value is more closely tied to the growth of its developer ecosystem than to scarcity, with Ethereum hosting tens of thousands of developers. Layer 2 rollups are helping close the gap with faster throughput, while Ethereum’s Layer 1 lags behind newer PoS chains.
Ethereum plans to boost scalability and efficiency through upgrades named The Verge, The Purge, and The Splurge, which could lift network activity and Ether payments. With those improvements, Ether’s price could rise more than tenfold to over $19,000.
Such a long-term tailwind has proponents citing Cathie Wood’s lofty target of roughly $180,000 by 2030.
Ether is the world’s second-most-valuable cryptocurrency by market cap, at about $233 billion, versus Bitcoin’s $1.31 trillion. Like Bitcoin, Ether faces macro headwinds, but if those pressures ease, the ETF pathways could draw in more institutional demand.
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