The price of ether (ETH), the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum blockchain, could reach $8,000 by the end of 2026 from its current price of around $1,600, according to Standard Chartered Bank.

"We think Ethereum’s established dominance in smart contract platforms, along with emerging uses in gaming and tokenization, has the potential to push ETH to the $8,000 level by end-2026 (a 5x multiple from the current price of $1,600)," Geoffrey Kendrick, head of forex and crypto research at Standard Chartered Bank, said in a report on Wednesday.

The expected $8,000 mark for ether is viewed as an initial step on the road toward the bank's previously stated "long-term structural valuation" range of $26,000 to $35,000, Kendrick said. While that long-term valuation assumes Ethereum's future use …