Over the past week, which has been a bit turbulent for crypto markets, Ethereum has certainly stood out, with its prices gaining around 7% to a high of $4,600.
The rising trend for the price of Ethereum
This new rise follows a rising trend that has characterised Ethereum over the past six months, in which the second largest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin, has gained over 140%.
Experts say the reasons for these gains are mainly linked to the increased adoption of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and DeFi projects running on the Ethereum network, which still remains by far the most widely used for new projects and apps in the DeFi world.
At the end of October, Chief Executive Officer and founder of crypto market consultancy Eight BV, Michael Van de Poppe, tweeted that the second-largest digital currency by capitalization could soon reach the $6,000 mark.
#Ethereum impulse wave target could be $6,000. pic.twitter.com/1lMvVEQUsd
— Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) October 29, 2021
According to a recent survey of crypto experts and analysts conducted by research firm Finder, the price of Ethereum (ETH) is expected to exceed $5,000 by the end of this year, reach $15,000 by 2025, and then exceed $50,000 by 2030.
These figures are startling, but they also seem to be supported by some incontrovertible data, such as those released by Jp Morgan, which stated that Ethereum Futures would be much more in demand than Bitcoin Futures by institutional investors.
Ethereum stores value better than Bitcoin
However, this performance of Ethereum is not only due to the increased adoption of the cryptocurrency for the proliferation of Defi and NFT projects, but also to the fact that the crypto is starting to be considered a better store of value than Bitcoin.
Supporting this view is a team of Australian researchers from Sydney University of Technology who wrote that Ethereum would be considered as a less inflationary financial instrument than Bitcoin.
The research reads:
“Annualizing the rate of Ethereum creation since EIP-1559, the expected increase in the total Ethereum supply is only 0.98%, being less than half the 1.99% increase in Bitcoin supply which is almost certain in the same period”.
The researchers therefore conclude that Ether provides:
“better inflationary hedging properties than Bitcoin, and Ether may therefore offer a superior long-term value storage than Bitcoin”.
New Ethereum ETFs on the way?
But what could definitely blow Ethereum’s stock price away is the possible approval in 2022 of the first ETFs. According to the first rumours, the SEC would be about to give the ok at the beginning of the year to the first ETF on the second-largest cryptocurrency by capitalization.
Traders are now betting on the real possibility of an Ethereum ETF by March.
Luuk Strijers, Chief Commercial Officer at Deribit, one of the largest crypto futures and options companies, told the Financial Times:
“Simply put, the market seems bullish with regards to ethereum’s potential by year-end or the first quarter”.
Moreover, according to Strijers, there is an explosion in derivative contracts that give investors the right but not the obligation to buy ETH at $15,000 in March next year. And that would be proof that they are betting on such a scenario, which could be a real boost for Ethereum’s price.
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