From a price perspective, Ethereum’s golden age has long passed.
In 2017, the second-largest cryptocurrency saw a parabolic bull run that eclipsed that of most other top cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin included. There was a point in 2017 when one ETH was worth approximately 0.17 BTC (on Coinbase).
Ethereum rallied so far and so fast that for a few months near the peak of the mania, there were some expecting for its market capitalization to surpass that of Bitcoin.
But a long-time analyst and trader in the space doesn’t think that such strength will be seen again. And here’s why.
Will Ethereum Hit a New ATH Against Bitcoin? Top Investor Thinks Not
The expectations that Ethereum will rally strongly in the next market cycle has been sparked by Chris Burniske, a partner at Placeholder Capital.
On June 14th, the venture investor and top cryptocurrency analyst came out with a Twitter thread in which he explained the case for ETH to rally to $7,500 in the next (arguably ongoing) bull market cycle.
“If BTC goes > $50,000 in the next cycle, and ETHBTC returns to its former ATH, then expect to see ETH > $7,500. To the mainstream ETH will be the new kid on the block — expect a frenzy to go with that realization,” Burniske explained, showing how a 3,000% Ethereum rally in the coming years may be feasible.
If $BTC goes > $50,000 in the next cycle, and $ETHBTC returns to its former ATH, then expect to see $ETH > $7,500. pic.twitter.com/5tetUJdbCS
— Chris Burniske (@cburniske) June 14, 2020
But according to a long-time pseudonymous cryptocurrency investor, this is unlikely to happen.
The commentator, part of the “Magical Crypto Friends” podcast with Charlie Lee, Samson Mow, and Riccardo Spagni, explained that ETH is “extremely unlikely to make a new ATH vs. Bitcoin.”
He cited two key factors:
- The initial coin offering bubble has popped. This is important as the ICO craze is what drove Ethereum so high in 2017 and 2018.
- There are “plenty of other smart contract platforms that are superior, have PoS, and that won’t do a complete rewrite of the code-breaking stuff.”
This strong assertion that Ethereum is unlikely to strongly rally against Bitcoin over the long run comes shortly after a fund manager said that there is no viable investment case for ETH.
In the Short-Term, a Rally Is Possible
While there are these long-term risk factors, that’s not to say that Ethereum can rally against Bitcoin in the short term.
Real Vision chief executive Raoul Pal noted earlier this month that ETH broke out against Bitcoin, moving above a symmetrical triangle that has confined price action over the past year:
“It even looks like Ether will outperform Bitcoin at some point (no position yet). Please remember: No tribal attacks about bitcoin vs ethereum. They are two different things and two different ecosystems.”
Featured Image from Shutterstock Price tags: ethusd, ethbtc It's "Extremely Unlikely" Ethereum Passes Its 2017 High Against Bitcoin: Here's Why