Key Takeaways:
- Ethereum’s (ETH) price has been under $2,000 for over a year.
- Experts at Finder believe the ETH price could hit $2,400 by the end of the year.
- What are the factors propelling the altcoin?
YEREVAN (CoinChapter.com) — Ethereum’s token, Ether (ETH), the largest altcoin with a nearly $225 billion market cap, rose about 0.4% to $1,860 on July 28.
Ethereum could hit $5.8K by 2025 — Survey
According to a survey of 29 industry specialists conducted by Finder, the ETH price will reach $2,400 by the end of 2023 after possibly peaking at over $2,700.
These experts also predict ETH prices will hit $5,800 by the end of 2025 and over $16,400 by the end of 2030.
Notably, the token has not effectively conquered the $2,000 ceiling since May 2022.
But one of the respondents, the managing director at Digital Capital Management, Ben Ritchie, has an above-average end-of-year prediction of US$3,200. He attributed the expected success to the Merge and Ethereum’s consequential full shift to proof-of-stake consensus.
There is a potential for a future supply squeeze, supported by a gradual emission rate, staking, and the network effect, which could drive the price of Ethereum to approximately US$3,200 within the current year – and even exceed US$12,000 in the long run.
asserted the expert.
Alex Svanevik, the CEO of Nansen’s data analytical platform, also gave an optimistic prediction of $3,400.
Ethereum has the most active developer ecosystem among blockchains. Economic activity Ethereum is the closest thing we have to a digitally native GDP. And as this GDP grows, with the soundest monetary policy of any economy, ETH will outperform most other major assets.
he said.
Regulatory factors could propel ETH
The possible approval of BlackRock’s Bitcoin spot ETF could propel the approval of a similar Ethereum-based fund. 70% of the Finder survey respondents were positive on the matter, while 15% were unsure, and another 15% did not believe an ETH spot ETF is a possibility.
US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) recent scrutiny of altcoins turned beneficial for Ethereum, given its relative “immunity” to being categorized as a “security.” However, the question remains, will that immunity continue? Experts had different answers.
At the moment, the SEC has not ruled out considering ETH security. However, the altcoin has relative protection due to the “Hinman speech.” William Hinman is the former Director of the Corporation Finance Division at the SEC. In his June 2018 speech, Mr. Hinman voiced his position on defining digital assets.
Putting aside the fundraising that accompanied the creation of Ether, based on my understanding of the present state of Ether, the Ethereum network and its decentralized structure, current offers and sales of Ether are not securities transactions.
said the former official.
Meanwhile, not all the factors in the market point to a bullish continuation.
Negative factors for Ethereum
The macroeconomic conditions remain challenging for the crypto market, as the Federal Reserve went forward with another interest rate hike in the latest Federal Open Market Committee meeting on Wednesday.
Moreover, data from TheBlock reveals a decline in on-chain activity on Ethereum. For example, the transaction volumes have declined by 27% year-over-year, standing at roughly 27 million on July 28, 2023.
Additionally, the platform detected a decline in the number of daily active addresses. As the graph below demonstrates, the number went from approximately 514,000 in July 2022 to an average of 368,000 in July 2023, a 28% drop.
