Ethereum’s Path to $10,000: EMJ Capital’s Eric Jackson Lays Out Bullish Case

Eric Jackson, founder and president of Toronto-based hedge fund EMJ Capital, believes ether (ETH) could reach $10,000 during the current bull cycle, driven by major shifts in institutional demand and supply dynamics.

In a detailed thread on X posted Sunday, Jackson explained that the market has yet to fully price in the potential approval of staking features for ETH exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which he anticipates could arrive by October 2025. Unlike the recent spot ETH ETFs, Jackson argues that staking-enabled ETFs would transform ether into a yield-bearing asset, making it far more appealing to institutional investors.

EMJ Capital’s projections suggest a looming supply squeeze fueled by increased institutional buying, reduced circulating supply due to staking, and steady passive investment inflows from traditional finance. Jackson also pointed to Ethereum’s deflationary tokenomics following the Merge, rising transaction fees from layer-2 networks, and growing momentum in real-world asset (RWA) tokenization as powerful tailwinds for ETH’s price.

“Ethereum is generating real revenue, positioning itself as an institutional-grade yield product rather than just a speculative asset,” Jackson wrote. He laid out a base-case target of $10,000 for ETH this cycle, with the potential for $15,000 or more if layer-2 adoption and ETF inflows exceed expectations.

Despite bitcoin’s dominance in headlines as it trades above $120,000, Jackson noted that Ethereum is quietly cementing itself as a critical layer of blockchain infrastructure. He pushed back against the “digital oil” metaphor often used for Ethereum, arguing instead that it should be viewed as a foundational platform for digital commerce, comparable to companies like Circle, Coinbase, Shopify, and Robinhood. EMJ Capital remains long ETH via the $ETHA ETF and plans to update its thesis as market conditions evolve.

Meanwhile, ether’s price has held relatively firm despite broader crypto market turbulence. Bitcoin has retreated sharply from highs above $123,000 to around $116,000 over the past two days, triggering widespread profit-taking. Ether, however, is down only 0.6% in the past 24 hours, helped in part by support from Nasdaq-listed SharpLink Gaming (SBET).

SharpLink announced earlier today that it has become the world’s largest corporate holder of ETH, surpassing even the Ethereum Foundation. Between July 7 and July 13, the company acquired roughly 74,656 ETH for about $213 million at an average price of $2,852, lifting its total holdings to approximately 280,706 ETH.

The company funded the purchases through a $413 million capital raise via its At-The-Market (ATM) share sale during the same period. SharpLink also revealed that around 99.7% of its ETH holdings are actively staked, which has generated about 415 ETH in staking rewards since it launched its ETH treasury strategy on June 2, 2025.

Additionally, SharpLink reported a 23% jump in its proprietary “ETH Concentration” metric since mid-June, indicating greater ETH exposure per share. Chairman Joseph Lubin, also a co-founder of Ethereum, said this aggressive strategy reflects SharpLink’s aim to position itself at the forefront of digital commerce by leveraging Ethereum’s role in decentralized finance and blockchain infrastructure.

Technical Analysis Highlights

• ETH traded with high volatility over the 24 hours from July 14 at 15:00 UTC to July 15 at 14:00 UTC, moving within a $132 range (about 4%), between lows of $2,933.50 and highs of $3,065.45.
• Overnight weakness saw ETH drop from $3,013.65 to $2,933.50 around 03:00 UTC before consolidating between $2,960 and $2,990.
• A significant late-session surge lifted ETH from $3,000.02 to $3,051.89 within an hour, driven by heavy trading volume of 496,321 units—more than twice the 24-hour average.
• A further rally between 13:42 and 13:50 UTC saw ETH climb from $3,029.14 to $3,065.37, a $36 spike in just eight minutes as volumes surged to over 21,000 units at 13:46.
• The surge breached the key $3,030 resistance, setting new session highs, but profit-taking emerged in the final minutes, leaving ETH to close around $3,047 as activity faded.