Can Ethereum reach US$10,000 by the end of 2022?

Ethereum (ETH) has had an excellent year, breaking its all-time high several times. 

It reached US$4,843 in the middle of November, nearly seven times higher than its price at the start of the year, a sign of the boom the coin experienced throughout 2021.

Since then, however, the coin has experienced a dip, often trading below the US$4000 mark, highlighting further the volatilty that surrounds cryptocurrency. 

Before taking a look at what experts predict the coins price will do over the next 12 months, lets remind ourselves of some of the key features of Ethereum.

What is Ethereum?

Ethereum is a decentralized, open source blockchain with smart contract functionality, with Ether the native cryptocurrency of the platform.

Unlike Bitcoin, it is more than just a cryptocurrency. The Ethereum technology and blockchain is used to build a multitude of things, such as non-fungible tokens (NFT), metaverse and other tokens, such as Chainlink.

Commentators argue, however, that its main selling point is the ability to be applied to real world applications. Its smart contracts can be used to complete transactions upon the execution of pre-existing conditions.

This opens endless possibilities and industries that the technology can be used in. For example, a flight company would only charge its customers once the plane has taken off.

Having experienced a record year in terms of price, reaching a couple of all-time highs throughout 2021, those invested, or hoping to invest, in Ethereum will be speculating on whether it can reach US$10,000 by the end of 2022.

What has the price been doing?

Ethereum started 2021 at US$708.92, experiencing bullish and bearish periods throughout the year.

It reached an all-time high at the start of November of US$4712.38 but has since experienced a steady decline since then, with the price trading at US$3869.36 at the time of writing.

Like most cryptos, the price is extremely volatile, heavily influenced by external factors.

China’s announcement to ban crypto mining in May of this year saw a massive dump of many coins, with Ethereum falling nearly 50% in the space of a month following the announcement.

What are the experts saying?

Given the extreme levels of volatility, experts and commentators are generally reluctant to give a definitive answer or price prediction on whether Ethereum can reach US$10000 by the end of 2022.

Russ Mould, an investment director from AJ Bell believes the crypto market in general will continue to remain volatile, and a lot of the future price movement is dependent on acceptance for the tokens in the wider world.

“They clearly have been volatile, and I can see no reason why they wouldn’t remain volatile.”

“I think the debate over whether it is money will continue to rage. But the fact that you can’t pay your taxes with it means it’s never going to be an accepted form of currency.”

“In many cases, that’s why people get involved in the first place, because they’re not all authorised, regulated, and carefully tracked”

He also anticipates greater regulation but doubts whether that will be enough to deter people from the decentralised, almost wild element of crypto.

“I think you will see greater regulation. You clearly cannot ban people from using them, that is impossible. But what you can do is wall the garden”

“I think the fact that central banks are looking to push their own agenda with CBDCs leads me to believe that there will be greater regulation going forwards.”

“Will that be enough to deter people from mining for them and continuing to trade them? No. I think it would take a wider market accident for interest in these more speculative areas of the market to deter people.”

Kjetil Hove Pettersen, chief executive officer of the Norwegian crypto mining centre, Kryptovault, argues while the potential is high in the coin, there is a lot of risk involved.

“I dare not speculate,” on the price of Ethereum, stating that it is “even more volatile than bitcoin.”

Despite this, Pettesen believes that Ethereum can perform better than Bitcoin, but also has a lot more risk associated with it.

“It is possible that it will outperform Bitcoin, but there is also a lot more risk associated with it, just like with every altcoin.”

eToros’s crypto analyst Simon Peters argues that a combination of greater demand and less supply for the ETH tokens could potentially lead to higher prices.

However, he was also unwilling to provide a specific estimate on the price.

Bernardo Schucman from CleanSpark, the US based software company, was one who was willing to offer a target.

He believes the growth in decentralised finance (DeFi) will push the asset further, with a very optimistic target of Ethereum reaching US$20,000 by 2022 thanks to the “the great number of new DeFi and tokenisation projects that are catching on in the ecosystem.”

Investment analysis platform WalletInvestor is not as bullish on its predictions, however.

While it forecasts growth thanks to stuff like monetised games and smart contracts continuing to be built on Ethereum’s blockchain, it only predicts the price to reach US$7000 by the end of 2022.

So, will Ethereum reach US$10,000 by the end of 2022?

Crypto markets are extremely volatile, so it comes as no surprise that industry experts are somewhat unwilling to give a definitive answer or price prediction.

Whether it can reach US$100000 by the end of the year will really depend on the continued growth and acceptance of Ethereum into everyday problems and solutions.

No one doubts the potential of Ethereum and what it can do, but it is difficult to predict exactly what the price will be a year from now, as it has the potential to be at US$10000, but also back down to stagnate and stay at its current price.