Read about predictions for the Ethereum price
Note that this or any
other predictions can not be perceived as a constant. All important events are
random, they can not be predicted or taken into account.
The further the forecast
is given the less chance that it will come true.
Please do not forget that
by investing you risk losing all your money, because of:
1.
Bubble
2.
Volatility
3.
Scam
To avoid many of these risks, it is recommended to
differentiate your portfolio and hedge risks. If you do not know how to do
this, then there are
special platforms.
Top 3 Ethereum Project Price Predictions for 2018
During the past couple of years, cryptocurrencies
have garnered the attention of every investor, especially after the meteoric
rise of currencies like Bitcoin and the Ether. For example, in December 2015, a
single Bitcoin was worth somewhere around $440, while the same Bitcoin was
worth $2600 when I first wrote this article in July 2017 and was worth $9,500
when I updated this article in 29th of November 2017 and now is worth $7,900.
Today Bitcoin was between $7,900 – $8,500 a usual fluctuation I would say.
This increase over a year and a half can be
compared with the one made by the Ether, Bitcoin’s primary rival in the
cryptocurrency sector. This article intends to look at 3 Ethereum price
predictions for 2018. Speaking of that, 120 days ago Ethereum price was $300
and now is a bit over $800 (not bad right?). But lets not forget that couple of days ago it was $1,400. Be very
cautious when investing in cryptocurrency.
What are the Ethereum price predictions for 2018?
Keep in mind that attempting to offer a short term
prediction for the price of Ether is a difficult endeavor. For starters, the
price of a single Ether is so volatile that it can lose 25% of its value in one day, only to regain it in the
next. The most recent example is, 120 days ago was a bit under $300 and now is
$800. But there was a lot of volatility in the last two months with Ethereum
going to as low as $550 and back to $770, and even at $1,440 in early January
2018 and now at $800.
This volatility, as well as the novelty of this
currency – Ethereum was started 2014 – drain technical analysis from any
potency it might have in making Ethereum price predictions for 2018. Rendering
any forecast suspicious at best. Therefore, all the following predictions take
a long-term look at things.
1. The Price of an Ether Will Break the $2000
Benchmark (or $5,000 in my opinion)
When I first wrote this Ethereum
prediction for 2018 my colleagues reading this article
considered myself crazy, now Ethereum price should reach $2,000 in the next
three months. If you ask me, the
price of a single Ethereum can go even up to $5,000 by the end of 2018.
Ethereum was $10 in January 2017 and now is around $800, do you think thats far
from $5,000?
Keep in mind, to reach
$2,000 it should have a market cap of 200 billions. It can go even in a single
day to $2,000. Thats my prediction.
According to the website Investing Haven, the price
of an Ether should reach $1000,
if not by 2018 then at least by 2020. That was a very conservative Ethereum
price prediction for 2018 in my opinion, considering their currency’s
fluctuation. The site’s research team bases their forecast on three fundamental factors:
a. The
current and future supply of Ethers
There are currently 96 million coins of Ether in
circulation. Although this number is likely to increase over the next couple of
years, it will probably flatline after that. Which means that the developers in
charge of Ethereum will make sure that the number of circulating coins stays
constant.
b. Ether
applications
The edge Ether has over Bitcoin is the ability to
use smart contracts. These
are contracts that are automatically executed without any human intervention
the instant their terms are met.
However, Ethereum also permits developers to
build decentralized apps,
also known as dapps, on top of its blockchain technology. Interestingly, the
more apps are built, the more valuable the Ether becomes.
The research team at Investing Haven expects that 5
to 7 years from now, we will see a 20 to 30-fold increase in
the number of decentralized blockchain apps from the numbers we have today.
c. Ether
demand
Demand for Ether will be driven by one of two
things. Either for its
functionality as a currency that is built on a blockchain with
several applications. Or as a possible investment vehicle that keeps appreciating in value.
When it comes to the functionality of Ether, the
technology behind smart contracts is what interests people most. However, as we
just saw, the building of new applications on top of the Ethereumblockchain
will also drive up demand.
2. Ethers May Very Well Overtake Bitcoin
I wrote this headline in June 2017, not sure if I
should keep it when I will update the article next time. The price of an Ether should outperform that of a Bitcoin for
the coming duration. What this means is that a dollar invested in Ether will
return a higher ROI than investing the same dollar in Bitcoin. This indeed can
be hard to believe in January 2018 when looking at Bitcoin price, but we all
know that less than 10 weeks ago it was under $6,000. Most likely Bitcoinits
being used by short term investors these days. Also, the assertion is based on
the growth of Ethereum between 2015-2017 while Bitcoin was between 2009-2017.
In fact, the CEO of hedge fund Polychain Capital,
Olaf Carlson-Wee, is of the opinion that the entire market capitalization of
Ethereum will exceed that of Bitcoin by the end of this year. At least, that’s
his Ethereum price predictions for 2018. If it exceeds it, price will triple.
There is plenty of evidence to support Olaf’s view.
On the one hand, the previously mentioned 20-fold explosion of Ether in 4
months versus the 8.5 times growth of Bitcoin in a year and a half.
Besides that, the fact that Bitcoin has lost almost half of its market share to
Ethereum during the past four months. To put matters into perspective, four
months ago, 90% of all money
invested in cryptocurrency was invested into Bitcoin.
Curiously, this number has dropped to somewhere
around 45%. Conversely, Ethereum’s share of the total money invested has increased four times in size, making
it approach the 30% area.
Another indicator showing that Ether can overtake
Bitcoin can be found by looking at who’s backing each type of currency, as well
as why they are backing said currency. Bitcoin’s focus on payment technology
makes it popular with governments, such as Japan’s and China’s governments.
On the other hand, Ethereum’s smart contract technology makes corporations
very interested in its real world applications. For example, a new
coalition by the name of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) has sprung up
with the explicit objective of facilitating and fostering the growth of the
Ether.
The Enterprise Ethereum Alliance consists of more
than 86 firms, including JP Morgan and Microsoft. The endorsement of Ether by
such heavy hitters only goes to show the amount of potential in this
technology.
3. The Future of Ethereum Isn’t All Rainbows and
Butterflies
Despite the extremely bullish sentiment most of the
market has towards Ether, the cryptocurrency still has some major hurdles to
overcome before we can say that it is here to stay.
First of all, Ether might have several differences
to Bitcoin, yet it still runs on blockchain technology. This means that the same problems, that all
current blockchain technologies face, plague it too, mainly scalability.
When we are talking about scalability, our primary
concern is whether the increased
number of users will adversely affect the transaction time or not.
Simply put, when more people use the technology, there are more transactions up
for registering and putting down in the ledger.
This increase in the number of transactions means
that any one transaction will wait in a long queue before going into a block.
Without going into details, this problem has created what is called the fork problem. And there is no
agreement on how to solve it.
Another issue with Ether is the possibility
of cloning the technology.
After all, any company can start its own blockchain based cryptocurrency
tomorrow. The only thing conferring value on any currency is the consensus of
the community using said currency.
As a result, it becomes a bit difficult to place
one’s full faith in a single digital currency, without worrying about another
currency sprouting up and usurping the one we were holding on to.
Naturally, these problems, if left unsolved,
jeopardize the future of Ether, hence making any Ethereum price predictions for
2018 problematic. So the question is this: will these issues find solving? Or
is a new currency going to come to light that doesn’t have these problems in
the first place?
Conclusion
The scene of digital currencies is a very nascent
one, and it still has a long way to go. The general outlook is quite bullish,
especially when it comes to the two main contenders: Bitcoin and Ether.
Furthermore, the outlook on Ether is even more positive than that of Bitcoin.
The optimists believe that Ether should experience
a positive increase within the coming couple of years, letting it pass Bitcoin
on the way. Nevertheless, the space is fraught with problems that don’t have an
easy fix. And some skeptics worry about what these problems could mean for the
entire space.
Naturally, making Ethereum price predictions for
2018 is not an easy feat. And any forecast is liable to overlook a thing or
two. Please share your opinions with us in the comments below, and feel free to
ask any questions you might have.
Answered by SlavaPonomarev
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