What happens if Ethereum hits $100,000? Coinstar

What does $100,000 ETH look like?

If ETH reaches $100,000, Ethereum will become a multi-trillion dollar economy with massive spin-offs.

At $100,000 per ether (ETH), today’s circulating supply of 121.1 million would imply a market value of about $12.1 trillion. That’s about 3.2 times Apple’s market cap and roughly 44% of the estimated total value of gold.

If approximately 36 million ETH remain invested (29.5% of the supply), this alone represents $3.6 trillion in bond capital. At this level, every downstream metric increases: from the security budget (via investment rewards) to the impact of US dollar fees and the collateral base that supports decentralized finance (DeFi) and exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

This article explores not only how ETH could possibly reach $100,000, but also what managing an economy of that scale would look like in practice.

did you know VanEck made the most significant $100,000 plus call. On June 5, 2024, the SEC-regulated asset manager published a 2030 Ether valuation model, predicting a bullish price of $154,000 per ETH and a base price of $22,000.

What could push ETH to $100,000?

Six digits probably requires combining multiple durable drivers at once.

1. Stable institutional offer: Spot ETH funds have already shown that they can attract serious money. If allocation expands from crypto desks to pensions, asset managers and retirement accounts, these creations become a slow, mechanical tide that soaks up supply.

2. Onchain dollars in large numbers: Stablecoins are near a record high of around $300 billion, and tokenized US Treasury bill funds have moved from pilot projects to actual collateral. BlackRock’s BUIDL is in the low $3 billion range, while VBILL and other products are active. More daily settlement and collateral living on Ethereum and its rollups deepens liquidity and pushes more fees (and spend) through the system.

3. Scaling that keeps costs low while ETH still sees value: Dencun’s upgrade has cheapened aggregate data for publishing data through blob transactions, keeping Layer 2 (L2) user costs in the cents range. The key is that aggregation continues to agree with Ethereum in ETH, and blob-based fees are consumed. Activity can move up the stack without throwing Ethereum — or its collection of value — out of the loop.

4. Scarcity Mechanics: Staked ETH exceeded 36 million (29% of supply), further tightening the tradable float. Restaking is already a significant capital layer with the potential to lock in even more liquidity. When you add in the continued erosion of fees, that means inflows start to hit a thinner float — a classic reflex loop.

5. Macro and expectations: Base street values ​​remain much lower, with most predictions in the $7,500-$25,000 range for 2025-2028. and a base case of $22,000 by 2030. Reaching six figures would likely require the perfect combination of conditions: hundreds of billions of ETF assets under management (AUM), several trillion dollars in onchain money, and tokenization with Ethereum retaining its share and fee burn consistently offsetting issuance during a friendly liquidity cycle.

For ETH, a single upgrade or short speculative burst will not do the job alone. A real signal appears when stable trends align. This is seen in the consistent inflows of ETFs and the growing use of stablecoins and tokenized assets on Ethereum and its L2. Strong L2 bandwidth and burn add to that power, along with wider participation through staking and restaging.

ETH Network Economy at $100,000

At six figures, even small percentage shifts in protocol translate into huge dollar flows — and that’s what ultimately funds network security.

Ethereum’s Proof of Stake associates issuance with the share of ETH that secures the network. As more ETH is invested, the reward rate per validator drops, allowing security to increase without excessive inflation. At $100,000 per ETH, the real headline will be the USD value of those rewards.

Think in simple units.

Security budget in dollars equals ETH issued per year x ETH price. At $100,000 per ETH:

• 100,000 ETH issued per year → 10 billion USD

• 300,000 ETH → $30 billion

• 1 million ETH → 100 billion dollars.

Those dollars come along with priority fees and maximum extractable value (MEV) from block production.

As activity on the chain expands, these revenue streams grow in USD as well, attracting more validators and gradually reducing the yield percentage, even as total dollar payouts continue to rise.

On the other side of the ledger, the Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 1559 burns a base fee (and, after Dencun, a blob fee) for each block. Stronger use increases burns. Whether the net supply will be inflationary or deflationary to six figures depends on the balance of issuance versus consumption (ie, how much block space users are consuming on L1 and L2).

Staking also shapes liquidity. A larger stake narrows the tradable float and directs more activity through liquid investable tokens (LSTs) and reinvestment layers. It’s capital efficient, but concentrates risk: carrier dominance, correlated slicing and output queue dynamics matter more when trillions are at stake.

Ultimately, what seemed a modest release in terms of ETH turns into tens of billions of spent security; burning that seemed to be gradual can make up for a significant portion of it. The mix of direct deposits, LSTs and reinvestment becomes a prime driver of market safety and liquidity.

did you know When we say “security budget in USD”, we mean the total dollar value Ethereum spends each year compensating validators to secure the network.

How Ethereum Stays Usable at $100,000

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

At $100,000, gas fees on L1 translate into much higher fees in USD. Dencun is a pressure valve: Rollups publish blob data far cheaper, so routine activity lives on L2 for cents, while bulk data is still stacked on Ethereum and paid in ETH to do so.

The fees are still there but have been redirected. L1 is still burning the base fee and the blob fees are also burning, so ETH is destroyed as a scale of usage.

The six digits are only valid if real users continue to transact. Low-cost L2s keep retail and business flows active; L1 alignment and blobs keep the ETH centered and the burn works. That combination maintains demand (infrastructure spending in ETH) and reduces supply (via burning) — the kind of feedback loop that a high valuation needs to be permanent.

Indeed, affordable L2s protect the user experience, while L1/L2 value capture (fees paid in ETH, continuous burning) supports assets. Without both, activity would migrate or stall, undermining the very demand required by the $100,000 ETH.

Where six-figure flows come from: ETFs, DeFi, stablecoins, collaterals

At $100,000, the market regime defines who buys – and how – not the headlines.

• ETFs as a structured offer: Spot funds turn portfolio rebalancing and retirement contributions into predictable creations, not advertising spikes. Most wrappers do not invest, so a healthy float remains on exchanges for price discovery even as protocol-level staking reduces the tradable supply. That balance—steady net buying from funds plus adequate liquidity for sellers—can turn sharp rises into sustained uptrends.

• DeFi’s mechanical lift (and sharper edges): When prices rise, collateral values ​​increase, borrowing capacity increases, and protocol revenues grow through higher fees and MEV sharing. But the risks also increase: the liquidation range widens, risk parameters narrow, and oracles face more pressure when markets move quickly.

• Stablecoin as a settlement layer: Stablecoins power most of the daily onchain payments and transfers. As their supply and speed expands in Ethereum and its pools, market liquidity deepens as users continue to pay low fees at the L2 level. Rollups pay ETH for publishing data and settling on L1. This keeps ETH at the center of the equation and ensures that demand remains strong even as most activity moves above the base layer.

ETFs provide a stable, structured supply, while stablecoins and DeFi generate continuous economic activity. Together, they support a six-figure valuation on both sides: persistent fund buying pressure and an active network that is constantly spending and burning ETH.

What Could Derail $100,000: Second-Order Effects and a Resilience Checklist

Large valuations amplify everything: volatility, regulatory oversight and operational weaknesses.

• Faster cascades, thinner pockets: With size comes greater volatility and leverage. Liquidations can flow more quickly through L2 and bridges, and thin pockets of liquidity tend to bite.

• A stricter policy framework: Expect stricter oversight of staking, liquid staking and restaking, ETF disclosures and user applications. Missteps here can disrupt flows or cause structural changes.

• Centralization and common dependencies: Validator concentration, single-operator sequencers, and shared custody/oracle dependencies move from maintenance to systemic level risk.

• UX split and security bar raising: Daily activities gravitate towards L2, fueled by bill pumping and sponsored gas, while L1 remains reserved for high value settlement. Larger dollar rewards inevitably attract more capable adversaries, making MEV’s client diversity, market design, and credible evidence of error or flight irreparable.

If we talk about what keeps $100,000 sustainable, it comes down to operator diversity, healthy exit queues, conservative risk parameters, robust clients, and reliable prophecies — the very signals that big allocators follow. When these metrics are aligned with ETF inflows and steady on-chain growth, $100,000 stops sounding like a “maybe.”