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After failing to break above $800.00 for more than a week, Ethereum prices finally caught a tailwind on Tuesday morning, soaring as high as $914.83.
This was a record high for the Ethereum to USD exchange rate.
The Ethereum to Bitcoin rate, meanwhile, also rose 13.59% to 0.06439940 BTC. Clearly, money is flowing from Bitcoin to altcoins. You can see this rotation reflected in the BTC Dominance ratio, which shows that Bitcoin’s market share has fallen to 36.1%.
You can also see it in the Ripple price. XRP prices have more than doubled in the last week, a sign that investors are starting to appreciate value-creating cryptos rather than straight up currency plays.
Daily Ethereum Chart
Over the long haul, this shift might favor Ethereum.
Why, you ask?
Well, Ethereum is not like Bitcoin at all. It is a platform that developers can use to create decentralized applications. These would function as regular apps do, except that data would not flow through central servers controlled by corporations or governments.
Instead, the data would sit on a blockchain created by thousands of disparate computers, waiting to be unlocked by our cryptographic keys. This end goal of Ethereum—to become a “world computer”—offers real value to businesses of all varieties.
For example, an energy consortium brainstormed 200 applications that could help their businesses run more efficiently. (Source: “Energy Sector Turns to Ethereum to Test Blockchain,” Coindesk, May 30, 2017.)
They have yet to implement those ideas, but the mere fact that Ethereum carries that capability is an indication of its versatility and usefulness.
There’s also the Ethereum Enterprise Alliance (EEA), which is perhaps the most important corporate voice in the blockchain space. It boasts mega-names like JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), and Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO). All of them are working to develop use-cases for blockchain.
And yes, they plan on using Ethereum.
Analyst Take
There is virtually no debate about the fact that Ethereum generates real value, so if the explosion in Ripple prices is any indication, we could see ETH prices resume their upward momentum in the near term. As such, we maintain our $1,500 Ethereum price forecast for 2018.
Also Read: Ethereum Price Prediction for 2018
Source: Price Confidential
