To be honest, no one can accurately predict the worth of cryptocurrencies in the future. Just like any other market, cryptocurrencies and NFTs are highly affected by several factors, mainly economic and political. An example of this would be the war in Ukraine, which had a major effect on cryptocurrencies, and the world as we know it. People, to this date, and despite the digital revolution post-Covid, still have the tendency to go back to the old-school ways. For instance, let’s say World War III happened, servers broke down and the internet was shut off. Wouldn’t people wish they had pure gold instead of Bitcoin or Ethereum? So what does the future of Ethereum look like?
No one knows where the world, or crypto, is going to be in 10, 20, or even 30 years. Heck, just yesterday, the crypto scene encountered an immense dip, where the market fell drastically. However, there are some forecasts that could be conducted, especially when it comes to one of the most important networks and cryptocurrencies out there. We’re not talking about Bitcoin. We’re fast-forwarding together and exploring where Ethereum might stand in the year 2030!
A Brief About the Merge
When Vitalik Buterin’s Ethereum went live in 2015, it heralded the birth of a new type of second-generation cryptocurrency. It presented a whole new digital ecosystem with practically endless possibilities, in contrast to Bitcoin. Today, and in a most recent Ethereum 2.0 upgrade, the renowned blockchain network transitioned from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus. They called it “The Merge”. Let’s explore it together!
"The merge will reduce worldwide electricity consumption by 0.2%" – @drakefjustin
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) September 15, 2022
The Merge brought Ethereum’s original execution layer and its brand-new Beacon Chain proof-of-stake consensus layer together. It made it unnecessary to use energy-intensive mining and allowed the network to be protected with staked ETH instead. More scalability, security, and sustainability are what the network’s vision is all about. The Merge made it a very promising step in bringing Ethereum’s vision to life.
The Beacon Chain was first delivered apart from Mainnet. Proof-of-work continued to be used to secure the Ethereum Mainnet, which includes all of its accounts, balances, smart contracts, and blockchain information. On the other hand, Beacon Chain operated in parallel using proof-of-stake. When these two systems ultimately converged during The Merge, proof-of-stake completely superseded proof-of-work. If this sounds too complicated, check out this article that goes into detail about Ethereum’s Merge.
The Merge’s Effect
After the Merge, the future of Ethereum seemed bright. Mads Eberhardt, Dutch bank Saxo’s cryptocurrency analyst, talked about The Merge and referred to it as “one of the most influential events in the history of crypto by impacting Ethereum both technically and economically”. He continued to say, “Based on Ethereum’s price activity in July compared to the one of bitcoin, traders undoubtedly favor holding Ethereum on The Merge. In our view, the positive sentiment in Ethereum has positively influenced the price actions of the rest of the space, including Bitcoin.”
Now, the Ethereum blockchain’s transaction verification has changed as a result of the switch from PoW to PoS. Validators can now stake ETH, the native coin, significantly lowering energy consumption. This comes instead of utilizing miners, who need enormous amounts of computer power to confirm and create new blocks.
In contrast to PoW, which distributed 5.4 million ETH annually to miners, PoS would distribute just about 500,000 ETH to stakers. This will allow PoS to enhance the economics of the Ethereum blockchain. Since part of the transaction fees will be burned, lowering the total quantity of the coin might lower inflation and cause ether to become deflationary.
What Makes Ethereum Valuable?
Ethereum is considered to be the second most important cryptocurrency, right after Bitcoin! However, after The Merge, the currency witnessed a price fall. Nonetheless, Ethereum is very valuable as it has several use cases. For example, Ethereum follows DAO systems or Decentralized Autonomous Organizations. DAOs operate in a more democratic manner with proposals voted on by blockchain members.
On the contrary, typical organizational structures work with a defined leadership and top-down decision-making. Also, Ethereum’s smart contracts are powerful. The majority of altcoins do not have their own blockchains. Instead, they use the Ethereum network to create ERC-20 Tokens. Thus, Ethereum charges a gas tax in the form of the cryptocurrency Ether (Eth).
Here, we shouldn’t forget to mention that the majority of tokens and coins live on the Ethereum blockchain. Whether we’re talking cryptocurrencies, the metaverse, NFTs, marketplaces, or even applications. The most successful projects, such as Bored Ape Yacht Club, CryptoPunks, Axie Infinity, Decentraland, The SandBox, and OpenSea, all utilize the Ethereum network. So what’s the future of Ethereum look like?
The Future of Ethereum
As we mentioned before, one can never be sure of any currency’s future value, since there are several factors that could affect a price’s decrease or increase! We also aren’t giving you any financial advice and it’s imperative that you always do your own research before moving forward with any investment. However, what we do is provide an estimation and prediction as per studies and, well, some common sense.
2025 Predictions
According to DigitalCoin, Ethereum’s value might reach $7,331 by 2025. Ethereum’s price would likely rise significantly, according to the Economy Forecast Agency. They predict that the price of Ethereum might reach $8,945 by January 2024. However, it will then start to fall and end 2025 at $2,386.
By the end of 2024 and the start of 2025, Ethereum’s price is predicted by Trading Beasts to average about $3,649. Cryptocurrency Price Prediction predicts Ethereum’s price to drop to $2,842 by the end of December 2025. These forecasts lead us to believe that, by the middle of the decade, Ethereum may still be worth less than $30,000.
2030 Predictions
By 2030, Ethereum’s trading price will most probably surpass $50,000, predict experts on Coin Switch. For growth investors that retain assets for a long time, industry analysts on Coin Price Forecast suggest that the years 2028 to 2032 will be the best time to invest in digital assets.
According to statistics, predictions say that “there will be a 1040% increase in Ethereum’s price from 2023 to 2027, moving its price from the current support level of $3,702 to a whopping $36,240.” The period between 2028 and 2032 will witness a new all-time high for ETH with the number of $36,240 rallying to a new price milestone of $84,911. This forecast has sparked intense debates on which cryptocurrency, BTC or ETH, will reach the $100,000 threshold first in the crypto and financial industries.
Future of Ethereum: Might Skyrocket?
More companies are turning to Ethereum because it’s quicker, safer, more affordable, and easier to access. Ethereum was the first platform to offer decentralized services in addition to transactions. Decentralized applications, or dApps, are becoming more prevalent every day, which suggests that Ethereum is probably expanding as well. Not to mention that the fact that Ethereum has one of the largest communities in the cryptocurrency market increases the likelihood of its success. They actively participate in improving the platform, which is crucial.
In general, Ethereum is a wise investment, particularly over the long term. Ethereum has the ability to exceed people’s expectations. Given the steadily growing number of services available on the network and the impending rollout of Ethereum 2.0. Moreover, the future of Ethereum appears to be highly promising.