Citigroup’s analysts estimate that Ether’s price will end the year around $4,300 in their base case forecast. They also outline a bullish scenario where Ether could rise to $6,400 and a bearish scenario where it falls to about $2,200.

The bank cautions that much of Ether’s recent strength may reflect investor enthusiasm rather than underlying usage metrics. A large share of growth has come from Layer-2 blockchains built atop Ethereum, but Citigroup assumes only about 30 percent of that activity passes through to the main Ethereum base layer.

Key Drivers of the Forecast

Network activity remains a crucial factor in Citi’s model. The bank points to increasing demand from applications like stablecoins and tokenization, which can drive usage fees and staking revenue. However, they believe that Ether’s current price exceeds what the base-layer activity would justify.

ETF flows are also part of the equation. While flows into Ether-based ETFs have been less than those into Bitcoin, Citi notes that they have an outsized impact per dollar on price moves. But such inflows are expected to remain relatively modest given Ether’s lower visibility with new investors and smaller market cap.

Risks and Scenarios to Watch

In a bullish scenario, further gains could come from stronger adoption, increasing transaction fees, and more robust usage of tokenization and stablecoin activity. Conversely, the bear case depends on macroeconomic headwinds, weakening equity markets, and slower-than-expected growth in Ethereum’s core activity levels.

Another risk is that the price could face correction if technical support levels fail. Investors will be watching metrics like base-layer transaction volume, staking yields, and fees. If market sentiment cools, those stronger supports may come into focus.

Standard Chartered’s innovation and venture building unit, SC Ventures, is preparing to raise about $250 million for a new digital asset fund it expects to launch in 2026.

The bank has already signaled that some capital will come from investors in the Middle East. The move reflects growing interest in digital assets among global financial institutions and underscores SC Ventures’ push to lead in fintech-driven finance models.

The fund will focus on investments in digital assets broadly, especially in opportunities tied to the financial services sector. SC Ventures, which was established in 2018, has been incubating disruptive technologies and business models. This new fund adds to its growing portfolio of initiatives aimed at combining financial services with emerging tech.

Drivers of the New Fund Strategy

Part of SC Ventures’ motivation appears to be demand from high-net-worth and institutional investors in the Middle East, who have increasingly sought exposure to digital asset markets. The fund’s global orientation suggests Standard Chartered sees opportunities not just in its traditional banking markets, but also in fintech hubs and emerging digital finance ecosystems.

Another driver is the competitive pressure in financial services to offer new digital solutions, including crypto, tokenisation, and blockchain-enabled services. With fintech and digital assets evolving fast, having a dedicated investment vehicle allows SC Ventures to scale selectively, invest in infrastructure or startups, and partner in building next-generation finance platforms.

Potential Implications for Standard Chartered and the Sector

For Standard Chartered, launching this fund could help it anchor itself more firmly in the digital asset and fintech space, giving it early exposure to technologies that may reshape banking, payments, and capital markets.

It may also open new revenue streams if the investments perform well and if regulatory risk is managed properly. However, such funds carry considerable risk: regulatory uncertainty, volatility in digital asset markets, and competition from both established finance firms and nimble startups.

Broadly in the financial services sector, SC Ventures’ plan may signal that banks in Asia, the Middle East, and beyond are more willing to commit capital to digital asset tools and platforms. It could encourage similar funds or strategic arms at other banks to follow suit, especially in regions where fintech and blockchain regulation is evolving to become more permissive.

CoreWeave’s stock moved sharply higher after the company disclosed a $6.3 billion agreement with Nvidia that effectively guarantees a buyer for any unsold cloud-computing capacity through April 13, 2032.

The announcement provided a major boost to investor sentiment, sending CoreWeave shares up about 7 percent in early trading as the market reacted to the reduced risk profile of the AI infrastructure provider.

The deal extends a partnership first established in April 2023 and formalizes Nvidia’s role as both a supplier of GPUs and a backstop customer. By securing this long-term commitment, CoreWeave gains a stronger footing to expand its AI-focused data centers in the U.S. and Europe, which already host some of the most in-demand Nvidia hardware for training and running large AI models.

Why the CoreWeave Stock Is Rallying

Investors view the Nvidia agreement as a powerful signal of confidence and stability. In a capital-intensive industry where utilization rates can make or break profitability, having Nvidia agree to buy unused capacity reduces the downside risk.

This addresses long-standing concerns about CoreWeave’s reliance on a small number of big customers, such as Microsoft and OpenAI, and offers a clearer path to predictable revenue growth.

The stock’s reaction also reflects broader enthusiasm for companies tied to AI infrastructure. As demand for computing power accelerates, markets are rewarding providers that can demonstrate both scale and financial safety nets. CoreWeave’s announcement gives investors a narrative of growth supported by a world-leading chipmaker.

Implications for CoreWeave and the AI Cloud Sector

This arrangement strengthens CoreWeave’s ability to plan capital spending and scale operations while protecting against underutilization. The company may be able to accelerate its build-out of data centers, knowing that Nvidia’s purchase commitment cushions the risks if customer demand takes longer to materialize.

For the wider AI cloud sector, the deal illustrates how major chip makers are becoming demand stabilizers as well as suppliers. If similar agreements spread, they could reshape competitive dynamics by favoring infrastructure providers able to secure long-term commitments from technology giants. Investors will be watching whether CoreWeave’s stock can sustain its gains as the company executes on this expansion strategy.

Tesla shares climbed sharply after CEO Elon Musk disclosed he had purchased nearly $1 billion of Tesla stock. The open-market buy involved about 2.57 million shares at prices between roughly $372 and $396 per share. The stock closed Friday at $395.94.

The announcement helped lift Tesla’s stock above its 2024 closing price, putting it in positive territory for 2025. Investors read the move as a strong vote of confidence in the company’s future. Musk’s purchase marks his first open-market buying since 2020. It reinforces that despite headwinds Tesla’s leadership remains committed.

While the stock had declined earlier in the year amid growing competition and concerns over EV demand, this move sent a message to shareholders. Musk is doubling down on Tesla’s long-term strategy.

Why Musk Decided to Buy

Several factors appear to have encouraged Musk’s stock purchase. Tesla’s valuation targets and performance goals are especially ambitious.

A proposed compensation package for Musk could reach up to $1 trillion if the company meets milestones over the next decade. Those include big increases in production, expansion in AI and robotics, and a much higher market capitalization.

Investor concerns over Tesla’s recent stagnation also lifted once Musk himself put money on the line. Market participants saw the buy as a signal that Musk believes in the business despite a challenging macro climate.

The purchase triggered buying interest from both institutional and retail investors. It signaled that leadership and shareholders are aligned on Tesla’s future.

Implications for Tesla and Its Investors

This move may help restore confidence in Tesla at a time when its share price has underperformed relative to broader tech and EV sectors. Pulling into positive territory for the year is a psychological boost for many.

However, ambitious growth goals and lofty valuation targets still pose significant risk. To unlock the full proposed compensation package, Tesla must hit extremely aggressive performance and market cap benchmarks.

If the company fails to meet those goals, investor expectations could turn into disappointment. The billion-dollar buy creates high hopes but also higher stakes.

For now, Musk’s purchase has put Tesla back in the spotlight. Investors will monitor production numbers, AI and robotics progress, and how well Tesla meets its internal milestones.

Alphabet, the parent of Google, has become the 4th company in history to reach a market capitalisation of $3 trillion. The milestone follows a powerful stock rally sparked by a U.S. federal judge’s decision to reject a proposed breakup of key Alphabet businesses. Relief over the antitrust case, combined with strong fundamentals, helped propel the company’s shares to new highs.

The $3 trillion club is an exclusive one. Alphabet now joins Apple, Microsoft, and Nvidia as the only publicly traded companies to have ever reached this valuation. That context underscores the scale of Alphabet’s operations and the investor confidence behind its long-term strategy in advertising, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence.

Key Factors Behind Alphabet’s Surge

The antitrust ruling removed a significant overhang for the company. The Department of Justice had sought remedies that could have forced Alphabet to divest its Chrome browser and Android operating system, moves that would have reshaped its ecosystem. By avoiding such structural changes, Alphabet preserved the continuity of its platforms, reassuring investors about future revenue streams.

In parallel, Alphabet has benefited from continued growth in search advertising, expansion of its Google Cloud business, and heavy investment in AI tools and infrastructure. These factors have supported earnings momentum and positioned the company to ride broader trends favoring technology giants with large data and computing resources.

Impact on Alphabet and the Tech Sector

Crossing $3 trillion cements Alphabet’s status as one of the world’s dominant technology companies. It signals that investors view its regulatory risks as manageable and its growth prospects as strong. Still, challenges remain, including ongoing global scrutiny of its business practices and intensifying competition in AI and cloud computing.

For the broader technology sector, Alphabet’s milestone may serve as both a benchmark and a catalyst. It highlights how investor enthusiasm for AI, scale, and diversified business models is rewarding the largest players, while also setting expectations for how other firms might navigate regulatory headwinds and capitalise on similar trends.

Oracle has raised expectations for its cloud business, saying that booked revenue in its Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) segment could exceed 500 billion dollars in remaining performance obligations (RPO). That forecast came alongside impressive financial results and sent the company’s shares rising sharply – up 27% after the bell following the announcement.

In the first fiscal quarter ended August 31, Oracle reported RPO for OCI jumped 359% year-over-year to 455 billion dollars. CEO Safra Catz noted that in coming months Oracle expects to finalize deals pushing that number past the half-trillion mark.

The company also projected that OCI revenue would grow 77% this fiscal year to about 18 billion dollars, with projected growth continuing over the next four years toward 144 billion dollars in OCI revenue.

Drivers of Oracle’s Cloud Expansion

Oracle is positioning itself strongly in the cloud market by offering integrated, flexible deployment models and emphasizing cost efficiency, especially for AI workloads. Enterprises looking to deploy large-scale AI tools are increasingly sensitive to cost, and Oracle is leaning into that demand.

The company has struck major deals with Amazon, Alphabet, and Microsoft to run parts of their cloud workloads on OCI. Revenue from these partners grew by 1,529 percent in the most recent quarter. It is also expanding its infrastructure footprint: Oracle plans to deliver 37 new data centers with its hyperscaler partners, bringing the total in that partnership to 71.

Broader Impact on Oracle and the Cloud Industry

Oracle’s aggressive growth suggests it sees cloud infrastructure not just as a supporting business but as a core competitive battlefield, especially with AI applications demanding both scale and cost efficiency. If Oracle can maintain or accelerate these numbers, it could shift more enterprise and hyperscaler workloads toward OCI.

For investors, the strong RPO growth and ambitious forecast point to continued revenue expansion, though Oracle still trails larger cloud players in absolute scale. There are risks: supply chain constraints, rising costs of building and powering data centers, and competition from Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, and emerging players could pressure margins.

In the broader cloud market, Oracle’s success in winning multi-billion-dollar contracts and emphasizing AI-ready infrastructure may push more companies to evaluate cloud providers not just on features, but on cost and ease of integration.