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After putting in an underwhelming performance in 2023, despite maintaining a steady appreciation streak, it’s rather difficult to say what the altcoin leader might have in store for us next. As is always the case with all digital currencies, regardless of the place they occupy in the crypto hierarchy, predictions can fall short of the truth, with only so much data one can rely on to foresee upcoming price movements and the infamous market volatility laughing in the face of people’s attempts at it.
Nevertheless, industry experts and analysts have already cast their predictions for the year and they’re mostly leaning positive. Could Ethereum finally break out of Bitcoin’s shadow? Or is a new ATH in sight? The Ethereum price USD is currently standing at $2,614, a price point that’s neither bullish nor bearish. But 12 months is a long time and a lot of things could and probably will come to pass between the present moment and the end of the year. So, let’s see what experts think is going to happen with the network and its native coin in the not-so-distant future.
Starting the year on the right foot
The first indication that 2024 could be a good year for Ethereum is the asset’s recent performance. ETH started the year on a high note, going from $2,200 to $2,600 in less than two weeks. Although this offers no guarantee that the price increase will continue in the months to come and transform into a full-blown bull run, it does drive investor optimism which could have a positive impact on the asset.
A new year brings in a clean slate and comes with the promise of new beginnings, and that also stands true for crypto. Sometimes, renewed hopes of a potential upsurge are all it takes for the market to turn bullish and push a coin towards new summits. With Ethereum attracting a lot of favorable attention lately and the news coverage being overwhelmingly positive, the asset is already positioning itself for success.
Standing out from the crowd
Although there are many digital currencies in the market, over 23,000 and counting, to be more precise, and they share many similarities between them, it’s always been blatantly obvious that Ethereum is not like any other crypto out there.
Drawing inspiration from Bitcoin, the first and to this day the most popular and valuable digital currency, Ethereum was created with different purposes in mind. Ethereum established itself as a cutting-edge blockchain platform with smart contract functionality, boasting a wide range of applications in numerous fields and becoming a driver of innovation in crypto and blockchain.
There’s an entire ecosystem of smart contracts, NFTs and dApps built around the network, so there’s a lot more to Ethereum than simply trading and investing. Needless to say, these strong suits are expected to help Ethereum further distance itself from other players in the market, and that’s exactly what might happen in 2024.
Another important point to mention in support of this theory is Ethereum’s staking yields. After successfully transitioning to a proof-of-stake (PoS) mechanism via the Merge upgrade, Ethereum introduced staking rewards. This feature could make Ethereum more attractive to institutional investors and open the door for further innovation, and that might boost its popularity and price.
An ambitious roadmap for 2024
As usual, Ethereum has planned a lot of updates and upgrades and they’re all outlined in great detail in the network’s roadmap for 2024. At a short glance, one can see there are plenty of interesting upgrades coming up for the altcoin. In a series of posts on X (former Twitter), Vitalik Buterin, the mastermind behind the Ethereum project, talked about what these changes are and what they imply.
The merge, the surge, the scourge, the verge, the purge, and the splurge are all part of Ethereum’s updated roadmap and they target different key areas of the network that could use some fine-tuning. The takeaway is that Ethereum is as committed to continuous development as ever and the improvements it’s aiming at are bound to make the network stronger and more efficient, which will hopefully drive the ETH price up.
The impact of spot Bitcoin ETFs approval
The anticipation regarding the decision of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds applications is finally over as the first spot Bitcoin ETFs have just received the green light.
The move is expected to draw more retail and institutional investors into the market, which would increase the demand for Bitcoin and therefore lead to a sharp spike in the asset’s price. But the impact on the market could go much further than that and Ethereum could also benefit from this historical milestone.
The approval of these new investment products is largely regarded as a huge vote of confidence for crypto which could encourage growing acceptance of digital assets. This means that spot Ether ETFs could be next on the list of initiatives that pass the SEC’s scrutiny. If this is going to happen, one can only imagine what the hype could do for the Ethereum price.
On the flip side, not all Ethereum predictions are as rosy. Some experts point out that Ethereum is lagging behind Bitcoin as a store of value and its high gas prices also hinder its growth. These shortcomings also weigh in the balance when assessing Ethereum’s potential and future price action.
Final note
All in all, most predictions see Ethereum thriving this year. However, nothing is set in stone and Ethereum’s trajectory could change at any moment. What’s almost certain is that 2024 is not going to be a dull year. We’ve already witnessed a few notable events stirring the pot in the industry, and with upgrades, decisions, new projects and innovations and more regulatory scrutiny for digital assets coming up, we’ll likely have a lot more to talk about over the next months.
