Cryptocurrencies have been on a tear this year with Bitcoin, the original and still the largest, up over 250% and Ethereum up a whopping 2,500%. While both are well above their lows from last year, Ethereum’s price is still only about one-third of its all-time high from January 2018. So, is Ethereum going to rise?
The short answer is yes, but there are a lot of factors that will contribute to how high Ethereum will go and how quickly it will get there.
Bitcoin’s price is often seen as a leading indicator for the cryptocurrency market as a whole and Ethereum’s price has tended to follow Bitcoin’s lead. That said, Ethereum has outperformed Bitcoin in 2020 with its much faster growth.
One reason for Ethereum’s outperformance is that it is seen as a more useful cryptocurrency than Bitcoin. While Bitcoin is primarily used as a store of value, Ethereum’s blockchain is used to power hundreds of decentralized applications (dapps) and the network is used to process transactions for those dapps.
The most popular dapp built on Ethereum is DeFi (decentralized finance). DeFi apps allow users to do everything from lending and borrowing money to earning interest on their cryptocurrency holdings.
The growth of DeFi has been a key driver of Ethereum’s price growth this year.
Another factor that could boost Ethereum’s price is increasing institutional interest. While individual investors have been buying cryptocurrencies for years, 2020 has seen a growing number of institutions buying cryptocurrencies.
From high-profile investors like hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones to corporations like Square and PayPal, mainstream companies and financial institutions are turning to cryptocurrencies.
And many of these institutional investors are buying Ethereum as well as Bitcoin. For example, Jones’ Tudor Investment Corporation bought $50 million worth of ETH in Q2 2020.
Square also invested $50 million in ETH in the same quarter. PayPal plans to allow its customers to buy, hold, and sell cryptocurrencies including ETH starting in early 2021.
These institutional investors are buying cryptocurrencies because they believe they will increase in value over time and provide protection against inflation. With more institutional money flowing into cryptocurrencies, it is likely that the prices of both Bitcoin and Ethereum will continue to rise.
The final factor that could push Ethereum higher is increasing adoption by businesses and governments around the world. While still in its early stages, blockchain technology is being piloted and adopted by organizations in a wide range of industries from supply chain management to healthcare.
Ethereum is the leading blockchain platform for building dapps and its technology is being adopted by an increasing number of businesses and organizations. This growing adoption will help drive up demand for ETH which should lead to higher prices.
So, Is Ethereum Going To Rise?
Yes, Ethereum’s price is likely to continue rising as more individuals and institutions invest in cryptocurrencies and as blockchain technology becomes more widely adopted. However, there are no guarantees in the world of investing and it remains to be seen just how high ETH prices will go.