Sharplink Co‑CEO: Ethereum TVL Could Rise Tenfold by 2026
Sharplink co‑CEO Joseph Chalom forecasts Ethereum’s total value locked (TVL) could increase roughly tenfold by late 2026, driven by institutional stablecoins, tokenized real‑world assets (RWAs), sovereign wealth funds and new on‑chain use cases such as AI agents and prediction markets. Chalom highlights the stablecoin market (current market cap ~ $308B) as a primary liquidity source and projects it could expand toward ~$500B by 2026 amid increased issuance from banks and corporates (examples cited include JP Morgan and PayPal) and regionally backed local‑currency stablecoins. He expects tokenized assets under management to grow to about $300B by 2026 as issuance moves from single funds and securities to whole fund portfolios. Sovereign wealth funds’ ETH holdings and tokenization activity are forecast to increase 5–10x, providing another institutional flow into Ethereum. Sharplink Gaming is noted as a large public Ethereum treasury holder (797,704 ETH, ≈ $2.33B), underscoring institutional exposure. Chalom argues Ethereum’s strengths — large validator set, uptime and role as a settlement layer — make it attractive for institutional settlement, prediction markets and on‑chain AI agents, which together could materially boost on‑chain activity and capital inflows. The views are market outlook and not investment advice.
Bullish
The outlook is bullish for ETH price due to several institutional demand drivers that could materially increase on‑chain liquidity and capital flows. Key factors cited — expansion of institutional and corporate stablecoins, large growth in tokenized RWAs, and meaningful inflows from sovereign wealth funds — directly increase demand for Ethereum as a settlement and custody layer. Additional on‑chain activity from prediction markets and AI agents would raise transaction volume and fees, supporting network value. Short‑term effects may be muted or volatile (markets often price in expectations slowly and react to macro liquidity and regulatory signals). But medium‑to‑long‑term implications are positive: sustained institutional issuance and asset tokenization could lock substantial real‑world capital on Ethereum, tightening supply-side dynamics for ETH and boosting TVL. Risk factors that could temper this bullish view include adverse regulation, competing settlement chains, or slower-than-expected institutional adoption.