The "Ethereum Era": Standard Chartered Forecasts Surge to $40,000

While Bitcoin maintains its lead as a "sovereign reserve," Ethereum (ETH) is emerging as the technical "operating system" for 2026.

On January 12, 2026, Standard Chartered published a landmark research note predicting that Ethereum is poised to significantly outperform Bitcoin this year. 

Some cryptocurrency expers claim that the yeart 2026 may bring a notible rise to ETH price.

Post-Fusaka and the AI integration

The optimism is driven by the successful conclusion of the Fusaka upgrade earlier this month, which lowered Layer-2 fees by another 60% through refined "Blob" parameters.

However, the most "interesting" development is the traction behind ERC-8004, a new token standard designed to make Ethereum "AI-ready." Known as the "Trustless Agents" proposal, it introduces on-chain identity and validation registries for autonomous AI agents. This allows AI bots to hold property, execute financial tasks, and manage liquidity without human intervention, effectively birthing an "Agentic Economy" on-chain.

The road to glamsterdam

Looking ahead, developers are already finalizing the scope for the Glamsterdam hard fork (expected H1 2026). This upgrade will introduce Enshrined Proposer-Builder Separation (ePBS) and six-second block times, aiming to resolve the "blockchain trilemma" once and for all. By moving away from headline-grabbing hype toward durable, public infrastructure, Ethereum is positioning itself as the undisputed settlement layer for the $10 billion real-world asset (RWA) tokenization market.