These crypto analysts say Ethereum could reach $4,500 by 2022. Here’s why

Ethereum (ETH) could be worth $4,596 by the end of 2021, say analysts on the latest quarterly Ethereum Price Predictions Report from the personal finance comparison site, finder.com.

Finder’s global panel consists of 42 senior cryptocurrency specialists and academics who were asked to give their thoughts and price forecasts for ETH. Longer term, the panel predicts ETH could hit $17,810 by the end of 2025 and $71,763 by the end of 2030. 

CoinFlip founder and chief advisor Daniel Polotsky gave forecasts in line with the panel average and expects ETH will be worth $4,000 by the end of the year, before skyrocketing to $64,000 by 2030. 

“Ethereum’s price largely follows Bitcoin’s halving cycles, although that relationship may begin to decouple as time goes on, and as Ethereum continues to develop use cases that Bitcoin cannot achieve. Then, its price may grow at a faster rate than Bitcoin’s,” he said. 

Both Morpher CEO Martin Fröhler and RealFevr’s head of blockchain Pedro Febrero see ETH topping $10,000 by December 2021, with Fröhler adding, “Ethereum has the potential to power the future global financial infrastructure.”

Ethereum set to be more transacted than BTC?

93% of panelists say ETH will eventually be more frequently transacted than BTC, with just shy of half (48%) expecting this to happen before the end of 2022. However, while 56% of the panel say ETH will retain its DeFi dominance, 27% are unsure and 17% disagree.

CoinSmart CEO Justin Hartzman thinks ETH will retain its DeFi dominance and be more heavily transacted than BTC as soon as next year. 

“People don’t like transacting with BTC since it’s more of a store of value. Ethereum, on the other hand, has built a full-on multi-billion dollar ecosystem so the frequency of ETH transactions is definitely going to be a lot more,” Hartzman said.

68% of the panel say the event dubbed “the flippening” (the time when ETH overtakes BTC as the biggest currency by market cap) is coming — with a majority (58%) saying it will happen in the next five years. 

Token Metrics senior cryptocurrency investment analyst Forrest Przybysz says ETH will be worth $8,000 by the end of the year and thinks the “flippenning” will happen in 2022. 

“Ethereum’s move to proof-of-stake later this year or early 2022 will result in Ethereum’s supply becoming deflationary and will be equivalent to multiple “Bitcoin Halvings” in terms of supply restriction. This will make it a better store of value than Bitcoin in addition to all the utility it provides that Bitcoin does not have,” he said.

University of Western Australia associate professor of finance Lee Smales says the usefulness  of ETH will inevitably lead to it surpassing BTC’s market cap:

“Fundamentally, Ethereum is more ‘useful’ and so has greater utility than Bitcoin. Ultimately, this should lead to its value exceeding that of Bitcoin.”

While the majority of panelists expect ETH will ‘flip’ BTC, Banz Capital CEO John Iadeluca is part of the 33% who say ETH’s market cap will never exceed that of BTC’s. 

“Ethereum will most likely eventually become more frequently transacted than Bitcoin, but I do not see any scenario where Ethereum becomes worth more than Bitcoin,” he stated.

Senior lecturer at University of Canberra John Hawkins thinks ETH will see its value sink to $1,200 by the close of 2021 and saying, “I think Etheruem is a speculative bubble and will get dragged down by Bitcoin.”

Overall 63% of panelists say now is the time to buy ETH, compared to just 55% who say it’s time to buy BTC.

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