The forecast is bullish, but Finder's poll also revealed that ETH is expected to lose 30% of its market share to alternative Layer 1 networks over the coming 12 months.
A panel of 50 fintech specialists are predicting that Ether will hit $5,114 by the end of 2021 — an upside of 22.2% from current levels.
Overall, 63% of the experts polled assigned a Buy rating to the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency. A further 28% recommended hodling, while 9% have a Sell rating.
But beyond price, perhaps the most interesting stats relate to the ever-increasing number of rivals that Ethereum has to contend with.
The blockchain is currently in the throes of a pain-staking transition from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake — a move that aims to increase the number of transactions that can be handled per second, and reduce fees.
But repeated delays have elevated so-called “Ethereum killers” including Solana and Polkadot.
The Finder poll revealed that ETH is expected to lose 30% of its market share to alternative Layer 1 networks over the coming 12 months. Meanwhile, 13% even predict that Solana will overtake Ethereum as the world’s main decentralized platform.
Panxora’s general partner Chris Smith, who has set a target of just $3,000 for the end of the year, warned:
“The ETH core developers have been extremely slow resolving the transaction cost issues on the Ethereum blockchain. The costs have reached a point where most smart contract operations are now too expensive without integrating a level-two solution. Other smart contract blockchains are showing better technology solutions that supports a greater number of transactions at a lower cost.”
Not everyone agrees with this consensus. The University of East London’s associate professor Dr Iwa Salami was quoted as saying:
“Ethereum has the advantage of being the first mover, which is the reason why almost 80% of applications are built on Ethereum’s network, according to State of the DApps. Thus far, cheaper and faster blockchains (like Solana and Avalanche) are still not threatening competitors to Ethereum in this respect, which means Ethereum is likely to maintain its dominant position for some time to come.”
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A Temporary Blip?
What remains to be seen is whether Ethereum will bounce back and seize market share back from Solana, Polkadot and Cardano if (and when) the move to ETH 2.0 is complete.
Indeed, Finder’s fintech panel does appear to be bullish over the long term. Their forecast indicates prices will race to $15,364 by 2025 — and a jaw-dropping $50,788 by 2030.
Joseph Raczynski, a technologist and futurist at Thomson Reuters, has set a more conservative target of $12,000 for four years’ time. He explained:
“With more competition, ETH needs to scale, which is happening now. If they are able to do so, this is the Google for the metaverse and our current world — i.e., this is a generational play. No other organisation is as careful about its focus on the ethos but aware of market changes than Ethereum. While they are a purist play, they are also practical.”
James Edwards, a global cryptocurrency writer at Finder, appeared on the CoinMarketRecap podcast last week:
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