The Revival of Ethereum: A Key Catalyst for the Resurgence of Encryption Currency
In a recent report, market researchers and analysts Decentralized Finance Ignas provided valuable insights into the current bearish and bullish outlook for leading altcoin Ethereum (ETH). Over the past two years, Ethereum has struggled to keep up with its encryption currency counterparts, falling 47% against Bitcoin (BTC) since the market low in early 2023, lagging behind Solana (SOL) by 6.8 times.
Ignace suggested that the reasons for this underperformance are still debatable, but there are several key factors worth noting. First, compared to the more complex narrative surrounding Ethereum, the narrative of Bitcoin as 'digital gold' is easier for new retail investors and institutions to understand.
In addition, the position of Solana is increasingly high, and its active users, volume and market share are catching up with or even surpassing Ethereum, which has brought pressure to the leading smart contract platform.
Ignas explained, "Solana has higher risks in smart contract adoption (lower Market Cap), while Ethereum falls between the two." "Ethereum's modular approach to layer 2 solutions also leads to liquidity dispersion and a more complex user experience." However, the researchers are still optimistic about Ethereum's long-term potential and have put forward several convincing reasons worth paying attention to.
An efficient and deflationary network: If the gas price of Ethereum remains around 20 Gwei, the network is considered deflationary and scalable, which is an attractive and efficient choice for users.
Decentralization and security: Ethereum's Decentralization and security have attracted the trust of major institutions, including BlackRock, PayPal, JPMorgan and Santander Bank, which are testing blockchain settlements and tokenization on the platform.成
The mature Decentralized Finance ecosystem: Ignas believes that Ethereum and its layer 2 solutions have the most mature Decentralized Finance ecosystem in the encryption field, with a considerable Total Locked Value (TVL) and volume, attracting more users and driving up gas fees and ETH burn volume.
Network Effect: Ethereum's first-mover advantage and the largest share of developer mindshare have promoted its network effect and solidified its position as the leading smart contract platform.
Tokenization of real-world assets: Ethereum is becoming the preferred chain for tokenization of real-world assets (RWA), with 52% of stablecoins and 73% of US Treasury bonds currently being tokenized on the platform.
Researchers say another rarely discussed but potentially impactful catalyst is the upcoming Pectra upgrade, expected to take place in the first quarter of 2025.
This upgrade combines Prague (execution layer) and Electra (consensus layer) updates, which are expected to introduce several key improvements, including account abstraction (enhanced user experience), equity improvement, and scalability.
"市场低估 the importance of Pectra 升级,," Ignas said。 "账户抽象、权益增强和可扩展性改进等功能可能会改变以太坊的采用和可用性。
Ignas pointed out that as of the writing of this article, the trading price of ETH was $2,670, while VanEck's forecast for the benchmark price of ETH in 2030 is $11,800, which may seem pessimistic to some, but it still represents a 4.4x increase - far higher than Solana's forecast of 2.2x for the same period.
Ultimately, researchers pointed out that with a stable ecosystem, growing institutional support, and upcoming technological upgrades, even if Ethereum faces headwinds in the short term, the bullish reasons for it are becoming increasingly prominent.
(Data source: Ronaldo Marquez)