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Ethereum price got a little boost out of the broad crypto market upswing on Wednesday, peeking through $3,000 briefly after moving up from the $2,900 level for the day’s trading.
The O.G. smart contract blockchain trailed its competitors in gains for the 24-hour span ending around dinnertime Wednesday on the U.S. East Coast.
Ethereum gained 1.75% in market cap, while Bitcoin popped 8.5%, Solana soared 11.5%, and Toncoin (TON) price launched 21.5% on the day’s trading.
Meme coins surged ahead with the broader market, according to CoinMarketCap data. New crypto projects continued to offer coins in pre-sale like Ethereum Kai Cat (KAI).
Long Term Ethereum Price Outlook
But over the long-term where is Ethereum price heading?
By market capitalization, Ethereum has ranked second behind Bitcoin ever since it first flipped Ripple XRP just before Valentine’s Day 2016.
Predictions for Bitcoin price are a good conservative estimate for Ethereum price if it maintains parity with the little orange coin’s market cap going forward.
This bull market in cryptocurrencies is spurring mass adoption, like never seen before, on the Web3 layer of the Internet. Take for example, Jim Cramer, the CNBC “Mad Money” host who used to warn viewers not to buy Bitcoin right before every rally, almost like clockwork.
But during the current crypto super cycle that began last fall, with early anticipation for the Bitcoin ETF products launched in January, Cramer finally threw his hands up in the air and told viewers look if you like Bitcoin, buy some.
Most recently, he tried to help his audience stay financially safe while buying Bitcoin, posting, “If you want Bitcoin, don’t buy MicroStrategy $MSTR. Buy Bitcoin,” on X.
JIM CRAMER: "If you want #Bitcoin, don’t buy MicroStrategy $MSTR. Buy #Bitcoin." 👀 pic.twitter.com/YCQCVsQzQb
— Bitcoin News (@BitcoinNewsCom) May 15, 2024
Ethereum Price vs. Bitcoin Price
On Wednesday, the Internet smart currency for decentralized finance was worth some $362 billion in total market capitalization, about a quarter of Bitcoin’s total cap of $1.2 trillion.
Bitcoin hasn’t been around for as long as most nation-states, but already ranks above most sovereign national currencies in capitalization. For comparison, the total market value of all above-ground gold is estimated to be around $16 trillion.
Predictions for Bitcoin price projected forward into the more long-term range are based on its extensive network effects, ultra-fixed supply cap at 21 million BTC, and its reliability, quality, and durability as a cash reserve and payment app.
Block CEO Jack Dorsey predicts a $20 trillion market cap for BTC by the year 2030, for a 16x increase. Cryptocurrency investor analyst Raoul Pal of Real Vision Finance predicts about the same result by next year– forecasting $1 million BTC on crypto exchanges by 2025.
If the past decade has been any indication, Ethereum price is almost sure to follow as a deluge of capital inflows from retail crypto investors, regulated investors, corporations– and perhaps banks and governments next– continue to monetize the Web3 economy.
$5,500 Ether By 2025
According to a May 15, 2024 update on Ethereum in Forbes Advisor:
“By the year 2025, Ethereum is expected to reach the maximum level of $6,500 with a minimum of $4,500 and an average of $5,500. And by the year 2030, it is expected that it may go up to a maximum of $20,500.”
That would be a 1.5x to 2x in growth for Ethereum price by 2025. A Motley Fool update from May 12 encouraging readers to buy ETH like “there’s no tomorrow” reports:
“VanEck’s Matthew Sigel and Patrick Bush expect its price to reach $11,800 by 2030, while Ark Invest’s Cathie Wood believes it could be worth $166,000 by 2032.”
Another note by The Fool reprinted on Nasdaq says, “Ethereum has a real chance to hit $5,000 by the end of 2025,” same as the Forbes Advisor forecast, but with a higher upper range. “Ethereum has the potential to soar in value to $7,500.”
The Motley Fool report cites the growth of Ethereum decentralized apps as one of four main reasons for the cryptocurrency’s bright prospects ahead. The value isn’t in the Ether itself, but what you do with it. Literally billions of dollars worth of the platform are meme coins like Pepe Coin (PEPE), Shiba Inu (SHIB), and the new kitty on the block— Kai Cat (KAI).
$14,000 ETH By 2025? Skip It And Go For Low Cap Coins
The analyst projections above are not very bullish.
They’re humdrum compared to a research note this spring by U.K. multi-national bank Standard Chartered, which predicted $8,000 ETH by year’s end and $14,000 by 2025.
Owning a whole Ether coin today has buying power on par with $3,000 U.S. dollars, but used to cost less than a dollar per ETH token just eight years ago, for a 4,545% gain and an average annualized ROI of 538% within that time frame.
New issuance on the Ether network is marked at an enormous discount to the base layer tokens, although once new coins make it to exchanges, their prices can soar in value on the open market much like Ethereum price has. Kai Cat (KAI), for example, has already raised $261,000 in its premarket sale at a price of $0.0041 per KAI.
