Though this year hasn’t been the best one for Ethereum, everything may change in 2019 after a long-awaited Constantinople upgrade.
It is not a secret that the crypto market is very vulnerable not only to external factors but to internal changes as well. That’s why to understand possible upcoming trends, it is extremely important to bear in mind both groups of factors.
Ethereum in 2018
2018 is getting closer and closer to its end. Though this year has been definitely a good one for many individuals and businesses, Ethereum (ETH) hasn’t managed to find itself among the group of lucky beggars.
Since the beginning of the year, it has lost over 92% of its value. Nevertheless, though just a few days ago it was traded for $81, now it has recovered a little bit and at the press time, it is traded for $131 with a market capitalization of $13.6 billion.
But it is expected that Ethereum will show even better results after a long-awaited Constantinople upgrade that will happen quite soon.
Constantinople Fork
Constantinople fork that is scheduled for January 2019 is said to be the largest upgrade for the network. According to a well-known cryptocurrency expert Alex Krüger, Constantinople upgrade could greatly affect ETH.
On his Twitter account he wrote:
1/ #Ethereum's Constantinople fork is coming on block 7080000, around January 16, 2019. Constantinople will reduce the block rewards from 3 to 2, decreasing new $ETH supply accordingly.
On the long run, this is decidedly bullish. https://t.co/4bbgAHMz7Z
— Alex Krüger (@krugermacro) December 24, 2018
In the framework of this upgrade, block rewards will be reduced from 3 to 2 ETH and as a result ETH supply creation will be decreased. Krüger also explained that the current changes in Ethereum value against Bitcoin could be also provoked by Constantinople.
There were other network upgrades on Ethereum but they all influenced its price in different ways. That’s why it is impossible to predict real consequences right now.
What’s more, Krüger added that if the ETH price after the upgrade is nearly $155, only those professional miners who pay for electricity above $0.075 will operate at a loss.
Ethereum and ICO Market
These days not only Krüger is speaking about Ethereum. Arthur Hayes, CEO of BitMEX, one of the largest trading platforms in the world by volume, hopes that ETH will revive when the ICO market comes back to life.
Hayes believes that the ICO market will start to gain momentum once again in the nearest future and it will have a great influence on ETH. He explained:
“The use case for Ether is primarily ICOs. That market is dead right now. Once there are new issues, then Ether will rebound aggressively. When the ICO market returns, Ether will quickly test $200. The timing of the ICO rebirth is 12 to 18 months out.”
Nevertheless, Hayes also highlighted that before the growth of the once-largest altcoin in 2019, we would also observe an excellent performance of stablecoins that have gained extreme popularity this year.
It’s also worth mentioning that Joseph Lubin, Ethereum co-founder, is also very positive about the future of the crypto industry.
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