Former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes is pushing a bold price target for ETH and challenging the crypto community to make it happen.
In a July 21 X post, Hayes shared his vision of Ethereum (ETH) at $5,000, calling on the community to pump the asset’s price by the weekend.
“Fam can we pump $ETH to $5k by Friday?” he wrote. The former CEO’s comments came shortly after ETH surged to an intraday high of $3,822, its strongest level since late 2024.
Hayes’ tweet quickly sparked engagement. Tom Lee, Chairman of Bitmine Immersions, a mining company that recently shifted its treasury strategy toward ETH, responded with “good idea.”
Hayes followed up, noting that Lee’s TradFi reach could help accelerate the price surge, subtly encouraging the firm to ramp up its ongoing purchases.
Other commenters joined in with optimism, pushing the “pump” narrative and cheering for the “$5K ETH” goal. Some, however, painted $4,000 as a more reasonable target for the week, saying that $5,000 mark, which would make a fresh all-time high for the asset, might be more achievable in the coming weeks.
Either way, ETH will either reach $4K or push toward $5K, depending on several factors coming together to keep the ongoing momentum alive.
Can Ethereum hit $5k?
Ethereum has climbed 24% over the past week and 56% over the past month. To reach $5,000 by Friday, it would need another 32% move.
While ambitious, this is not impossible. A recent CoinShares report indicates that institutional capital is pouring into Ethereum, with $2.12 billion in inflows recorded just last week. Total 2025 inflows now stand at $6.2 billion, already surpassing all of 2024. These figures now account for roughly 23% of Ethereum’s total assets under management, marking a strong year so far.
Ethereum-tracking ETFs are also thriving, pulling inflows of $2.18 billion. This marks the fund’s biggest since inception, showing surging demand. Corporate treasuries are following suit, with billions of dollars flowing into Ethereum through large-scale purchases by major institutions. Two ETH-focused treasury firms recently announced combined purchases exceeding $2 billion and signaled plans to acquire even more.
The positive trend signals potential for ETH. If this level of accumulation continues, and ETH decisively breaks above the $3,800-$4,000 zone Hayes’ $5,000 target could gain real momentum.