Arbitrum Poised to Surpass Bitcoin and Ethereum Returns by 2030, Standard Chartered Predicts
Banking giant Standard Chartered identifies Robinhood Chain as early evidence that asset tokenization could revolutionize Arbitrum's financial model and propel ARB to significant gains through 2030.
According to Standard Chartered, the layer-2 network Arbitrum is positioned to become a leading performer in the digital asset sector through 2030, as traditional financial institutions increasingly migrate assets to blockchain networks, creating a potentially profitable revenue stream beyond crypto-native operations.
Geoff Kendrick, who serves as Standard Chartered's global head of digital assets research, explained in a note provided to Cointelegraph that Arbitrum's economic model presents significant growth potential due to the network's 10% share of net protocol revenue from companies that build on its platform. The most prominent example to date is Robinhood Chain, created by the well-known online brokerage platform.
Kendrick noted that Robinhood Chain has already substantially altered Arbitrum's economic landscape. Based on its present run rate, Arbitrum is on track to produce $5 million in revenue during September, representing more than a fivefold increase compared to levels recorded prior to Robinhood Chain's July launch.
These improved economics are anticipated by Kendrick to fuel a consistent appreciation of Arbitrum's native ARB token in the years ahead, potentially climbing to $10 by 2030. Measured from today's prices, this would constitute an approximately 70-fold gain, significantly outpacing Standard Chartered's projected returns for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) during the identical timeframe.
On Tuesday, ARB was trading at approximately $0.14, reflecting an 86% gain over the preceding month, based on Coingecko data.
The primary threats to his ARB price forecast, according to Kendrick, are "a slower-than-expected pace of asset tokenization and more competition from alternate blockchains."
Arbitrum outlook hinges on tokenized assets
The bullish perspective from StanChart is substantially shaped by the expansion of tokenized real-world assets, which have attained a combined value approaching $39 billion, based on data from RWA.xyz.
Within the note, Kendrick restated Standard Chartered's projection that tokenized assets will achieve $4 trillion by the conclusion of 2028 as financial institutions and asset management firms move additional assets onto blockchain networks. The bank views Arbitrum as a likely beneficiary given that it supplies the infrastructure enabling companies to construct their proprietary layer-2 networks while collecting a portion of the revenue these networks produce.
Standard Chartered has additionally referenced the expansion of tokenization as a component of its optimistic forecast for Chainlink and the wider decentralized finance ecosystem.