Multicoin

Fusaka

DeFi

Tom Lee

would

Crypto executive Kain Warwick, the founder of Synthetix and Infinex, is set to pay up $50,000 after betting that Ether would hit $25,000 in 2025, joining one of many market participants who overestimated the speed of Ether’s recovery after its dip in October.
Ether (<a href="/ethereum-price" rel="noopener noreferrer">ETH</a>) ended Dec. 31 trading at roughly $2,980, around 13.7% lower than where it started at the beginning of the year, <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/ethereum/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">according</a> to CoinMarketCap.
Part of it was due to a $19 billion crypto market liquidation on Oct. 10 that triggered a downtrend, pushing Ether as low as $2,767 before it slowly crept upward again.
The bet came from an exchange between Warwick and Multicoin managing partner Kyle Samani in November. Samani doubted the chances that Ether (<a href="/ethereum-price" rel="noopener noreferrer">ETH</a>) could recover and hit $25,000 by the end of the year.&nbsp;
Warwick disagreed, making a bet at 10:1 odds that it had a chance.&nbsp;
“Time to pay up,” Samani&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/KyleSamani/status/2006350784171253770?s=20" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">said</a> in an X post directed at Warwick on Wednesday.
<figure>
 <img alt="Cryptocurrencies, Ethereum" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-01/019b7d62-6478-747c-a0c1-f68e4b634c60.png" title="">
 <figcaption style="text-align: center;">
 Ether is down 2.18% over the past 30 days. Source: <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/ethereum/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">CoinMarketCap</a>
 </figcaption>
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Warwick, like many others, had high hopes for Ether last year, given surging institutional adoption and moves toward real world asset tokenization.&nbsp;
Speaking to Cointelegraph on Friday, Warwick toned down his new Ether price target for 2026 in light of the recent loss, with a “measly $10,000.”
“Akkkkktually [Actually] ETH is up 50% from when we made our bet. Just needed another clean 8x for me to win,” Warwick said.
<h2 id="other-analysts-were-tipping-around-10-000">Other analysts were tipping around $10,000</h2>
Just weeks before Warwick doubled down on Ether, BitMine chair Tom Lee speculated the cryptocurrency could end the year at roughly $10,000.
“For Ethereum, somewhere between [$10,000] and $12,000,” Lee <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/ether-price-crypto-prediction-tom-lee-arthur-hayes" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">said on the Bankless</a> podcast on Oct. 13.
Meanwhile, BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes, who also appeared on the same podcast episode, said he is “going to stay consistent” with his $10,000 prediction by the end of the year.
Related: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/crypto-sentiment-index-fear-market-emotions-bitcoin-price" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Crypto sentiment shifts off extreme fear, but ‘mixed emotions’ persist</a>
While the price didn’t get there, Ethereum instead made other milestones in 2025.
Ethereum had two major upgrades in 2025, Pectra in May and Fusaka in December. The <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/ethereum-fusaka-upgrade-goes-live-instant-feel-user-experiences" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Ethereum Foundation stated</a> that Fusaka brings Ethereum a step closer to providing “near-instant transactions.”
On Thursday, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/vitalik-buterin-ethereum-dapps-solution-cloudflare" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Buterin said that Ethereum</a> needed to do more to achieve its mission of “[building] the world computer that serves as a central infrastructure piece of a more free and open internet.”
Magazine:<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/how-crypto-laws-changed-2025-further-2026/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> How crypto laws changed in 2025 — and how they’ll change in 2026</a>

DeFi pioneer coughs up $50K after making bad bet on Ether

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