The crypto market has been struggling for nearly two full years now to return to all-time high peak prices set back at the height of the crypto bull run, when Bitcoin reached $20,000 and became a household name and altcoins like Ethereum made investors filthy rich.
During that time, Ethereum exploded to over $1,400 per ETH as demand for the asset fueled by the ICO boom caused its value to skyrocket. However, one crypto analyst says that Ethereum price won’t ever come close to the $1,000 mark ever again, even if Bitcoin some day reaches prices of $50,000 or more per BTC.
The Rise and Fall of Ethereum
Crypto assets, like any financial assets, are driven by market dynamics such as supply and demand. With scarce assets like Bitcoin that have low, hard-capped supplies, when demand rises, prices can grow quickly.
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Such was exactly the case during the 2017 crypto bull run, which took the mainstream public by storm and the price of Bitcoin to its all-time high of $20,000.
The public media attention on Bitcoin not only caused demand for the asset to skyrocket, but the price of the asset also followed. And as news of young investors turned millionaires made the airwaves, retail investors sought out to find the next Bitcoin in hopes of striking it rich.
This led to the initial coin offering boom, where new assets were launched regularly as the next big thing. These ICOs were often built on the Ethereum protocol as ERC-20 tokens, and investors bought up ETH to exchange for the shiny new altcoins tokens offering promise and hype.
But once that ICO boom fizzled out and the crypto hype bubble popped, investors were left holding Ethereum that had little use or utility, and the price of Ethereum collapsed from $1,400 to as low as $80.
Note: The analyst has since deleted their below tweet on the subject:
//twitter.com/macnbtc/status/91382016?s=21
ETH To Never Return To Near Or Above $1,000
Because there is little demand for Ethereum, believes that Ethereum will never again reach prices near or above $1,000 per ETH, even if Bitcoin reaches $50,000 per BTC.
Bitcoin and other altcoins are still down significantly from their all-time highs, however, most altcoins are down 80% or more, and have also lost significant value in their BTC ratios.
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It’s not just Ethereum, either. Many altcoins outside of the top ten cryptocurrencies by market cap are down as much as 99% from their all-time high prices – prices that are likely never to be seen again.
Unless there is another sudden rise in demand for Ethereum, the analyst’s prediction could very well come true. However, with crypto so young of a technology, anything is possible, and proper use cases and utility could be on the way.