Steven Nerayoff, an early Ethereum contributor and advisor, predicted Monday that ether could triple in 2018. Speaking on CNBC's Fast Money, Nerayoff said expanding developer adoption and the billions
Steven Nerayoff, an early Ethereum contributor and advisor, predicted Monday that ether could triple in 2018. Speaking on CNBC's Fast Money, Nerayoff said expanding developer adoption and the billions flowing into the ecosystem could drive the token to record highs and eclipse Bitcoin.
"What you're seeing with Ethereum is exponential increase in the number of projects," Nerayoff told the network. "There are billions of dollars being poured into the ecosystem right now, maybe 10 times more projects this year than last year, which could easily lead to a doubling, probably a tripling in price by the end of the year."
Developers are building across sectors beyond finance. "You're seeing a tremendous amount of growth across a wide variety of industries," Nerayoff said. "Fintech is actually the natural area, but now you're seeing it becoming increasingly more creative. You find projects in the oil and gas industry, you're finding government using it in their applications, you're seeing it in gaming, all kinds of different areas."
Ethereum and Bitcoin took different paths from the start. Bitcoin launched as a decentralized payment network. Ethereum, which went live in 2015, was designed as something more expansive. The platform runs smart contracts and applications using blockchain technology without centralized intermediaries. Developers tap the ether token to pay for computing resources on the network. Users buy ether on exchanges and hold it in digital wallets.
The economic incentives compound as adoption spreads. "People are actually using it for currency as well," Nerayoff said. "Lower transactional costs are increasing usage of the entire network, and that's increasing the network effects of it. There are more users, more projects built on there and more programmers."
Ethereum gained 13% on the day, moving toward its all-time high of $1,230. Bitcoin fell below $14,500 after China's internet finance regulator signaled plans to shut down mining operations in the country.
A leaked January 2 directive from the Leading Group of Internet Financial Risks Remediation, the country's internet finance regulator, ordered miners to exit "in an orderly fashion." The document framed mining as resource-intensive speculation. "Currently, there are some so-called 'mining' enterprises that produce 'virtual currencies.' They have consumed huge amounts of resources and stoked speculation of 'virtual currencies,'" it stated.
Local authorities must enforce the order using tax penalties, environmental restrictions, electricity pricing adjustments, and land-use controls. Officials report monthly on mining removals in their regions.
