Ethereum is shaping up to be a defining year. Looking back at the 2021 peak, the ETHBTC ratio tells part of the story—but the momentum building now feels different. Tokenization gaining real traction, mainstream adoption finally moving beyond hype into actual implementation. That's the thesis behind Standard Chartered's bullish call. The London-based bank isn't shy about positioning 2026 as Ethereum's moment. Their analysis points to ETH reaching $12,000—a figure that carries serious weight when you consider the infrastructure buildout happening across Layer 2s, institutional custody solutions, and enterprise-grade DeFi protocols. The convergence of regulatory clarity, real-world asset tokenization, and DeFi maturation creates a compelling setup. Whether that $12,000 target holds depends on execution, but the narrative around Ethereum's path forward has shifted from speculative to structural.