Ethereum Price Prediction as ETH Reaches $200 Billion Market Cap – Time to Buy?
The Ethereum price has risen by 2% in the past 24 hours, reaching $1,657 as the cryptocurrency market gains by the same percentage. Its current price means that it’s static in the past week and has increased by 6% in the last 14 days, with the coin just about recovering its $200 billion market cap today.
While ETH has provided a 38.6% return since the beginning of 2023, it remains a significantly undervalued token. And with Coinbase recently announcing a layer-two sidechain for Ethereum, it could see some very big gains later in the year indeed.
Ethereum Price Prediction as ETH Reaches $200 Billion Market Cap – Time to Buy?
ETH’s indicators find themselves in a mixed position, with the coin equally capable of further gains or losses in the near future. For instance, its relative strength index (purple) has begun rising again after sinking to 50 in the past couple of days, signalling a recovery of momentum.
On the other hand, ETH’s 30-day moving (red) has flattened out in relation to its 200-day average (blue). And given how much higher it is than the longer average, ETH could be due for further falls soon.
That said, any falls may be minor, seeing as how ETH has done a good job of holding its $1,600 support level. So while it may see another dip in the short-term, this is likely to be short-lived, with ETH’s medium- and long-term picture pointing to growth.
Indeed, ETH’s fundamentals remain so strong that it can only rise in the longer term. This has been underlined yet again by a recent announcement from Coinbase, which revealed that it’s launching Base, a layer-two sidechain for Ethereum.
1/ 🔵 We’re excited to announce @BuildOnBase.
— Coinbase 🛡️📞 (@coinbase) February 23, 2023
Base is an Ethereum L2 that offers a secure, low-cost, developer-friendly way for anyone, anywhere, to build decentralized apps.
Our goal with Base is to make onchain the next online and onboard 1B+ users into the cryptoeconomy. pic.twitter.com/RmwZFJzGGs
What’s significant about this launch is that Coinbase is aiming to “onboard 1B+ users into the cryptoeconomy” with Base. Even if it succeeds in attracting only a fraction of such users, its new venture will result in more adoption and usage for Ethereum.
This implies a steadily rising price for ETH, yet so does Ethereum’s newfound status as a proof-of-stake blockchain. When it completed the Merge in September, its shift to a PoS mechanism laid the foundations for it to become more energy efficient, more scalable and cheaper, something which will only help it solidify its position as the dominant layer-one blockchain in the cryptocurrency ecosystem
Even now, Ethereum currently accounts for 59% of the total value locked in of the entire sector. As further updates come in, and especially when sharding arrives either later this year or in 2024, this percentage is only going to increase.
That Ethereum is in a very strong position was also highlighted a couple of weeks ago, when payments giant Visa revealed that it’s testing USDC stablecoin payments on the Ethereum blockchain. Again, this suggests that, if big businesses are going to use a public blockchain, they’re most likely going to use Ethereum.
Visa has been testing how to do large settlements using $usdc on #ethereum. #crypto is going to be an everyday part of everyone's lives soon. Get ready.
— Lark Davis (@TheCryptoLark) February 6, 2023
On top of this, Ethereum is also gearing up to release the Shanghai update, which enables stakers to withdraw the ETH they’ve locked and received as rewards. While some commentators suggest that this could cause a short-term selloff, it’s another bullish milestone for Ethereum, since it de-risks staking for users.
Even with a Shanghai-induced dip this month, ETH is set to recover and return to the $1,700 level in the following weeks before mounting further gains. And the long-term trend is towards $2,000 and higher for later in the year, with earlier updates (e.g. EIP 1559) giving ETH a tendency to become deflationary during periods of peak activity.
And with the likes of Coinbase now joining the Ethereum ecosystem, such ‘peak activity’ is likely to become a regular occurrence, making ETH arguably one of the best bets in crypto.
Is Now A Good Time to Buy Ethereum?
ETH is one of the most fundamentally attractive coins in the market, yet it may dip when Shanghai makes withdrawals possible. For this reason, shorter-term traders may prefer looking at other high-potential coins. Accordingly, we’ve put together a list of the top 15 cryptocurrencies for 2023, as analyzed by the Cryptonews Industry Talk team.
The list is updated weekly with new altcoins and ICO projects, so be sure to check back for new entries.
Disclaimer: The Industry Talk section features insights by crypto industry players and is not a part of the editorial content of Cryptonews.com.
