Big Bet On Ethereum: CEO Sees 10X TVL Growth In 2026

According to Sharplink co-CEO Joseph Chalom, Ethereum could see a major jump in total value locked (TVL) next year if certain onchain trends pick up.

Chalom put a bold number on it: 10X TVL in 2026. That claim ties together rising stablecoin use, bigger tokenization of real-world assets, and increased interest from big financial groups.

Stablecoin Activity On Ethereum

Based on reports, the total stablecoin market stands at about $308 billion now and could grow to $500 billion by the end of next year, a rise of roughly 62%.

Over half of all stablecoin activity — about 54% — happens on Ethereum. That math matters: more stablecoin flows on Ethereum tends to lift the protocol’s TVL because many of those dollars sit in smart contracts for swaps, lending, and liquidity pools.

Sharplink Gaming holds 797,704 Ether, worth roughly $2.30 billion at the time of publication, a signal that some public treasuries are already staking big bets on the network.

Tokenized Assets Gain Traction

Chalom also expects tokenized real-world assets to expand rapidly, forecasting a $300 billion market for RWAs in 2026 and saying tokenized assets will 10X in AUM next year as funds, stocks, and bonds get wrapped onchain.

He points to rising interest from mainstream firms like JPMorgan, Franklin Templeton, and BlackRock. Reports note that sovereign wealth funds may increase their Ethereum exposure by five- to tenfold, which could bring large, patient capital into tokenization projects and protocol deposits.

Ethereum Price Action

Ethereum was trading near $2,921 on December 25, 2025, giving the network a market value of about $352 billion, while 24-hour trading volume came in at roughly $11.47 billion.

Over the course of 2025, ETH moved through a full market swing. It opened the year around $3,298, climbed to about $4,390 in August, and stayed below its record high of $4,942, before sliding back to the $2,921 area by year-end.

Price swings were heavy, with annual volatility close to 140%. Technical readings show mixed momentum. The weekly RSI sits at 41.7, placing Ethereum in a neutral-to-bearish zone, while the daily MACD histogram remains negative at -0.15. Price action has also been boxed into a narrow band between $2,774 and $3,038.

Futures data adds to the cautious tone. Total open interest stands near $37 billion, down 0.62% over the past 24 hours, pointing to reduced exposure from traders. Liquidation data shows more than $100 million in potential long liquidations clustered between $2,880 and $2,910, an area now seen as a key pressure point.

Market Signals And Risks

Not everyone agrees that token flows will translate into quick price gains. According to crypto analyst Benjamin Cowen, Ether is unlikely to hit new highs next year given current Bitcoin conditions.

That caution lines up with technicals that point to range-bound trading and with the fact that open interest has eased slightly. The liquidation cluster near $2,880–$2,910 shows where leveraged positions could be forced out, and that kind of stress can push price moves faster than fundamentals.

Featured image from Gemini, chart from TradingView