What Happens If Ethereum Hits $100,000?

What does ETH at $100,000 look like?

If the price of ETH reaches $100,000, Ethereum will become a multi-trillion dollar economy with significant spillover effects.

At a price of $100,000 per Ethereum (ETH), today’s circulating supply of 121.1 million would mean a market cap of about $12.1 trillion. This equates to about 3.2 times Apple’s market capitalization and about 44% of the estimated total value of gold.

If approximately 36 million ETH remain at stake (29.5% of supply), this alone represents $3.6 trillion in bond capital. At this scale, every final metric is magnified: from the security budget (through rewards accrued) to the impact of USD fees and the collateral base that supports decentralized finance (DeFi) and exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

This article explores not only how ETH could reach $100,000, but also what running an economy of this size would look like in practice.

Did you know? VanEck made the most famous call worth over $100,000. On June 5, 2024, the SEC-regulated asset manager published a 2030 valuation model for Ethereum, predicting a bullish price of $154,000 per Ethereum and a base case of $22,000.

What could push ETH to $100,000?

Six figures would likely require several solid drives that multiply simultaneously.

1. Fixed institutional giving: Spot ETH funds have already shown that they can attract significant funds. If allocations expand from crypto desks to pensions, wealth managers and retirement accounts, those innovations become a slow mechanical tide that absorbs supply.

2. Onchain Dollars at Scale: Stablecoins are approaching record levels of around $300 billion, and US Treasury token funds have moved from pilots to real collateral. BlackRock’s BUIDL is in the low $3 billion range, while VBILL and other products are currently in the $3 billion range. More daily settlement and collateralization on Ethereum and its accumulations deepens liquidity and drives more fees (and burn) through the system.

3. Scaling that keeps costs low while ETH still captures value: The Dencun upgrade made it cheaper for batch operations to propagate data through blob transactions, keeping user costs on Layer 2s (L2s) in the cents range. Most importantly, the amounts collected on Ethereum still settle into ETH, and the pip-based fees are burned. Activity can move to the top of the stack without cutting Ethereum – or capturing its value – out of the loop.

4. Scarcity mechanisms: The price of Staked ETH has surpassed 36 million (29% of supply), further tightening the tradable float. Repossession is already a meaningful capital layer with the potential to secure further liquidity. When you add in sustained fee burn, this means that inflows start to reach a thinner float level – a classic reversal loop.

5. Macros and forecasts: Baselines are still much lower, with most forecasts between $7,500 and $25,000 for the 2025-2028 window and a base case of $22,000 by 2030. Getting to six figures will likely require an ideal mix of conditions: hundreds of billions of ETF assets under management (AUM), and several trillion dollars of funds On-chain and tokenization while maintaining a stake burn and Ethereum fees to offset issuance constantly during the downturn. Liquidity friendly cycle.

For ETH, a single upgrade or short speculative wave won’t do the job on its own. The true signal appears when established trends line up. This is seen in consistent ETF flows and the growing use of stablecoins and token funds on Ethereum and its L2s. Strong L2 throughput and burning add to this power, along with broader sharing through staking and restaking.

Economics of a $100,000 ETH network

At six figures, even small protocol shifts translate into massive inflows of dollars – and that’s what ultimately funds network security.

The issuance of Ethereum Proof of Stake is linked to the ETH stake that secures the network. As the number of Ethereum increases, the reward rate per validator decreases, allowing the security to scale without excessive inflation. At $100,000 per ETH, the real headline will be the value of those rewards in USD.

Think in simple units.

The security budget equals the USD ETH issued annually x the price of ETH. At $100,000 per ETH:

• 100,000 ETH issued annually → $10 billion

• 300,000 Ethereum → $30 billion

• 1 million Ethereum → $100 billion.

These dollars come alongside priority fees and maximum extractable value (MEV) from block production.

As onchain activity expands, these revenue streams in USD also grow, attracting more validators and gradually putting pressure on the payout ratio, even as total dollar payouts continue to rise.

On the other side of the ledger, Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 1559 burns the base fee (and post-Dencun fee, pip fee) for each block. Heavy use increases burning. Whether net supply is inflationary or deflationary at six figures depends on the issuance balance versus the burn balance (i.e. the amount of block space consumed by users on L1 and L2s).

Stacking also creates liquidity. A larger stake tightens the tradable float and drives more activity through liquid storage tokens (LSTs) and relayering. This is capital efficient, but the risks are concentrated: operator dominance, interconnected slicing, and checkout queue dynamics are even more important when trillions are at stake.

Eventually, an issuance that seemed modest in terms of ETH becomes tens of billions worth of securities spent; A burn that seemed gradual can make up for a large slice of it. The combination of direct signing, LSTs, and redeposit becomes a first-class driver of both security and market liquidity.

Did you know? When we say “security budget in USD,” we are referring to the total dollar amount that Ethereum spends each year to compensate validators to secure the network.

How Ethereum remains usable at $100,000

Users will only charge six-figure ETH if daily transactions remain cheap and the network continues to capture value.

At $100,000, the L1 gas fee turns into a much higher fee in US dollars. Dencun is the pressure valve: pools publish large binary data at a much lower cost, so routine activity lives on L2 for cents, while pools still reside in Ethereum and pay in ETH to do so.

The graphic spoiler is still there, but has been redirected. L1 still burns base fees, pip fees also burn, so ETH is destroyed as usage metrics.

Only six numbers are kept if real users continue to transact. Cheap L2s keep retail and business flows active; L1 settlement and blobs keep ETH in the center and the burn running. This combination serves to maintain demand (infrastructure spending in ETH) and tighten supply (through burning) – the kind of feedback loop in which a high valuation should always be in place.

In fact, affordable L2 units protect the user experience, while capturing L1/L2 value (fees paid in ETH, ongoing burning) supports the asset. Without both, activity will migrate or stop, undermining the same demand as $100,000 in Ethereum.

Where are six-figure flows coming from: ETFs, DeFi, stablecoins, and collateral

At $100,000, it’s who buys – and how – that determines the market order, not the headlines.

• ETFs as a structured offering: Spot funds turn portfolio rebalancing and retirement contributions into predictable innovations rather than high noise. Most token wrappers do not trade, so a healthy float remains on exchanges for price discovery even when staking at the protocol level reduces the tradable supply. This balance – consistent net buying from funds plus sufficient liquidity for sellers – can turn sharp rallies into lasting uptrends.

• DeFi’s mechanical leverage (and sharper edges): When prices rise, collateral values ​​expand, borrowing capacity increases and protocol revenues rise through higher fees and sharing of light EVs. But so is the scale of risk: liquidation ranges widen, risk parameters tighten, and oracles face more pressure when markets move quickly.

• Stablecoins as a settlement layer: Stablecoins power most daily on-chain payments and transfers. As supply and speed expand across Ethereum and its pooled operations, market liquidity deepens as users continue to pay low fees at the L2 level. Pools pay ETH for data publishing and settlement on L1. This keeps ETH in the settlement position and ensures demand remains strong even as most activity shifts above the base layer.

ETFs provide a stable, structural supply, while stablecoins and decentralized finance generate continuous economic activity. Together they support a six-figure valuation from both sides: constant buying pressure from funds and an active network that is constantly consuming and burning ETH.

What Could Hold $100,000 Back: Second-Order Effects and the Resilience Checklist

High valuations amplify everything: volatility, regulatory scrutiny, and operational vulnerabilities.

• Faster falls, thinner pockets: With volume comes higher volatility and leverage. Liquidations can flow faster via L2s and bridges, and thin liquidity pockets are more robust.

• Stricter policy surroundings: Expect close oversight of staking, liquid staking, redeposit, ETF disclosures, and consumer applications. Mistakes here can weaken flows or force structural changes.

• Centralization and shared dependencies: The focus of validators, single-operator sequencers, and shared custody/oracle dependencies is moving from housekeeping to large-scale systemic risk.

• Dividing UX and raising the safety bar: Daily activity gravitates towards L2s, driven by account divestiture and leveraged gas, while L1 remains reserved for high-value settlement. Larger dollar rewards certainly attract more capable adversaries, making customer diversity, midsize EV market design, and credible error or escape evidence non-negotiable.

If we’re talking about what keeps $100,000 sustainable, it’s operator diversity, healthy checkout lines, conservative risk parameters, strong clients and reliable oracles – the same signals that top allocators track. When these indicators align with ETF flows and steady on-chain growth, $100,000 stops looking like a “maybe.”