Ethereum Close to Hitting New All Time High – Possible 300% increase in 2018
At this moment in time, bitcoin is facing high volatility rates, and is struggling to maintain a set value. During the last few weeks, there have been massive price swings, of over $5,000 in value, once bitcoin dropped from its all-time high of $20,000. Ethereum on the other hand, is approaching yet another all-time high, given the latest positive volatility.
With this aspect in mind, Ethereum has gained roughly 7% in value in 24-hours, thus trading above $1,200 for a consecutive day. For those who do not know, Ether, which is the currency behind the smart contracts-based platform, has managed to hit an all-time high of $1,000 this weekend, and continue to trade above it.
The cryptocurrency, which is now second in line after bitcoin, has surpassed $1,200 and reached an all-time high of $1,261 on Monday. Prices did dip a little for the rest of the day, yet once trading resumed on Tuesday, another gain was noticed, with ETH trading at roughly $1,217.
Most economic analysts believe that Ethereum’s most recent rally is the direct result of the fourth-quarter report given on its performance. The report mentioned that the transaction volumes managed to double, and even surpass 10 transactions per second for several days, according to a blog post.
The recent price increase means that the digital currency now has a total market capitalization of over $119 billion, which is roughly equal to around 15% of the entire crypto market cap. Given its latest rally, Ethereum has managed to once again capture the second position in terms of market capitalization, following Bitcoin. On the other hand, Bitcoin Cash, which was the result of a hard fork, has moved down to the 4th position, following a Ripple price increase.
According to Ethereum co-creator, Steven Nerayoff, in a CNBC interview, "What you're seeing with ethereum is exponential increase in the number of projects — there are billions of dollars being poured into the ecosystem right now — maybe 10 times more projects this year than last year, which could easily lead to a doubling, probably a tripling in price by the end of the year."
The co-founder also mentioned that ETH’s use as a currency has also increased, given the fact that more and more people are using it due to bitcoin’s high transaction fees and long processing times, given the high trading volumes. Nerayoff also believes that it is likely for the ETH/USD currency pair to triple in value, during the month of 2018.