Standard Chartered Predicts Arbitrum ARB Could Hit $10 by 2030

Standard Chartered forecast that Arbitrum's ARB token could reach $10 by 2030 and outperform bitcoin and ether on a returns basis. By the bank's estimate, that would mean nearly a 70-fold increase from current levels. The forecast rests on Arbitrum's revenue from tokenizing assets for traditional financial firms.

What Standard Chartered predicted

Arbitrum is one of the largest layer-2 networks for Ethereum. The network processes transactions off the main chain and settles the final state back on Ethereum, which keeps fees lower and transactions faster. In a note shared with Cointelegraph, Geoff Kendrick, Standard Chartered's global head of digital assets research, said Arbitrum's economics offer considerable upside. The network collects 10% of the net protocol revenue generated by companies building their own products on its infrastructure. Kendrick expects ARB's returns over the coming years to exceed the bank's own projected returns for bitcoin and ether over the same period.

Major banks rarely publish such specific long-term targets for layer-2 tokens, so the note drew quick attention from traders. On Tuesday, ARB traded around $0.14, up 86% over the past month according to CoinGecko. A $10 target implies close to a 70-fold gain from current prices, making it one of the boldest calls a major bank has made on a single layer-2 network.

Where Arbitrum's revenue comes from

Kendrick points to Robinhood Chain, a network built on Arbitrum's infrastructure that the online brokerage launched in July for its own onchain products, as the leading example of the new revenue model. He said the launch materially changed Arbitrum's economics. At the current run rate, the network is set to bring in about $5 million in revenue this September.

The model is straightforward. Companies build their own networks on top of Arbitrum and pay a share of their revenue for using the infrastructure, instead of launching an independent blockchain from scratch. That gives Arbitrum a revenue source beyond typical crypto-native activity, closer to a cloud provider's business model than a standard blockchain network. The more large companies that plug in this way, the steadier the fee stream the network earns, regardless of swings in retail trading.

A bet on tokenization

Standard Chartered's bullish call leans heavily on the growth of tokenized real-world assets, whose cumulative value has already reached nearly $39 billion according to RWA.xyz data. In the note, Kendrick repeated the bank's forecast that tokenized assets worldwide will reach $4 trillion by the end of 2028, as banks and asset managers move more portfolios onchain.

The trend extends beyond a single network. Traditional financial firms are increasingly choosing public blockchains as settlement infrastructure instead of their own closed systems. The bank sees Arbitrum as one of the main beneficiaries of that shift, since the network offers ready-made infrastructure for companies building their own layers on top of it and takes a cut of their revenue. Standard Chartered has used the same tokenization argument before for its bullish call on Chainlink and the broader DeFi sector. Large banks and brokerages are moving pieces of their infrastructure onchain one after another, and each new project potentially generates revenue for the network it is built on.

Risks to the forecast

Kendrick himself acknowledged the forecast has weak spots.

"A slower-than-expected pace of asset tokenization and more competition from alternate blockchains."

- Geoff Kendrick, Global Head of Digital Assets Research at Standard Chartered, from a note to Cointelegraph, September 15, 2026

The competition is real. Other layer-2 networks, including Coinbase's Base, are chasing similar deals with traditional financial firms. If a major broker or bank picks a rival's infrastructure over Arbitrum, the bet on fast revenue growth would not pay off.

• ARB currently trades around $0.14, up 86% over the past month.
• Standard Chartered's 2030 target: $10 per token.
• Arbitrum's September revenue is expected at about $5 million.
• The cumulative value of tokenized assets worldwide has already reached nearly $39 billion.

Standard Chartered's forecast remains one of the boldest any major bank has made on a single layer-2 network. The coming quarters will show whether Arbitrum can sustain its revenue growth beyond the initial boost from Robinhood Chain, and whether other large brokerages join the tokenization trend.