BitMEX Co-founder Sells Solana for Ethereum, Predicts ETH Price to Reach $5,000

BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes says he has sold Solana (SOL) and bought more Ethereum (ETH) despite the recent bullish momentum recorded by SOL. 

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Hayes stated that he had received an inspiration to support Vitalik Buterin’s Ethereum amid the soaring price of SOL.

“Fam … I have a confession to make. I received a msg from the Lord while meditating. He said dump that Sam coin POS, and profess your love for Archangel Vitalik. So I dumped $SOL, and bot more $ETH.”

BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes said he had sold SOL and purchased more ETH, and predicted that ETH would reach $5,000. https://t.co/XKPQRp4QYf https://t.co/5U2RdWQShV

— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) December 22, 2023

He also projected the price of the leading altcoin to hit $5,000, a massive stretch of over 100% from its present value at $2,285. Most users on social media spaces found his predictions shocking, noting that Ether’s price might surge but not as high as that in a few months. 

Others opined that $2,400 should be the next phase for a bullish price movement as more institutional investors flow into the market. 

Ethereum has had a strong year surging 93% year-to-date YTD after plunging over 55% in 2022 as institutional investors’ sentiments pointed south due to macroeconomic factors.

Institutional investors remain bullish on ETH

In Q1 and Q2 2023, while Bitcoin (BTC) recorded huge institutional inflow on the heels of spot ETC applications, Ethereum posted sluggish figures dragging into Q3 even with the hype of the futures ETF. 

This can be seen in the slow inflows in institutional funds by investors. While Bitcoin recorded a massive institutional inflow to its products with several weeks of consecutive gains, ETH products recorded outflows although market factors pointed north for the asset. 

Total inflows to Bitcoin funds stand at $1.6 billion while Ethereum is above $10 million with slight gains in Q4. Interestingly, Ethereum’s slow growth did not affect wealth management firms’ sentiment towards the asset.

A recent survey conducted on the projection of crypto assets in the coming months had wealthy managers backing Ethereum despite slow growth in recent months.

According to them, most market indices favor the altcoin and its slow recovery is due to the bear market which saw it lose over 55% of its value. Furthermore, they cited staking on three platforms as a bullish narrative leading to inflows in the coming months. 

Solana marches on

Solana has been described as an institutional favorite this year with consecutive weekly inflows into its investment fund. SOL is up over 8% in the last 24 hours and has flipped Ripple (XRP) in terms of market capitalization.

The asset also topped BNB temporarily before sliding into 5th place notching a 17% increase in the last seven days and a whopping 67% growth over the past month. 

🔥 Solana Flips BNB, Gains 17% in 24 Hrs to Become Fourth Largest Crypto

The price of #Solana gained as much as 17.15% within the last 24 hours in a massive rally to become the fourth-largest crypto in terms of market cap.#CryptoNewshttps://t.co/mXeyQ2JwTz

— Cryptonews.com (@cryptonews) December 22, 2023

Exchanging hands at $91.7, the asset described as the ETH killer is still a long way behind Ethereum despite recording massive network and community activity.