Ethereum Will Likely Experience a Bull Run For The Rest of 2023

Ethereum is the second most popular cryptocurrency in the world, with a market capitalization that’s only exceeded by that of Bitcoin. Over the past year, however, the coin has been dealing with some difficulties as prices plummeted quite severely. Investors were left struggling to make sense of what was going on, with many selling the entirety of their portfolios as a means to make up for the capital losses.

But those that stood by their investments have reason to rejoice now, as Ethereum has been recording steady gains. After a challenging beginning of the month, when investors were worried that some of the largest exchanges on the market were about to be targeted, creating chaos for the marketplace, things began to settle down, and the prices started to climb. 

Bull run 

Since the cryptocurrency market is notoriously volatile and subjected to constant fluctuations, investors have been deterred from trying to include it in their portfolios. For many, the risks are greater than the hypothetical gains, so it’s better to steer clear of digital assets altogether. As such, predictions have become quite popular among members of the community. Both researchers and investors have begun offering their opinions on the matter.

And while many remind traders that it’s important to be aware that no prediction can conceivably be 100% accurate, most of them still get quite a lot of traction. One of the most recent predictions from the Ethereum world doesn’t just concern the following weeks or months but the rest of 2023. According to top traders, ETH is set for a continuous bull run until December 2023.

The reasons for this are quite complex, but most factors seem to indicate that this will indeed be the way in which things evolve. The basing structures founded on the US dollar and Bitcoin have remained strong, with early signs of reversal. Some expect Ethereum to actually outperform BTC by the end of the year by having higher proportional gains.

As for what prices investors can expect, most believe the price will be somewhere around $4,000, with many expecting the values to surpass this resistance point. According to historical data, bullish runs within crypto manifest in five waves. Of them, the first three are the steepest, with the most significant ascent. According to research, Ethereum is still in the earliest stages of its third wave.

Whale movements 

When an investor performs a transaction on the blockchain, this typically doesn’t make the news. While analysis relating to buying and selling habits is continuously collected as it is incredibly important, individual transactions are generally not that noteworthy. One important exception is that of whale investors, whose transactional endeavors are always watched and become common knowledge.

The reason for that is simple. Whales own considerable capital, meaning that any movements they perform on the exchanging platform will impact the other prices. On June 30th, analysts recorded the movement of over $1,280,800,000 in Ethereum, Bitcoin and Dogecoin, a staggering number. However, the transactions have occurred over only a couple of days. The largest portion involved Bitcoin, with approximately $1.178 billion. The transactions were spread out among several others of 1,327, 2,073, 1,966, 6,343, 4,999 and 4,430 BTC, among several others. Each was worth tens or even hundreds of millions.

For Ethereum, market watchers recorded a considerable transaction of 31,308 ETH coins, the rough equivalent of nearly $60 million. The wallet that performed this transaction has remained completely anonymous. The action was smaller for Dogecoin, but at $47.3 million, or 770,000,000 worth of DOGE, it is still substantial.

Frozen transactions 

On July 1st, crypto news websites discussed a noteworthy occurrence on the Ethereum blockchain, during which transactions were frozen for twelve seconds. The event occurred the previous Thursday, June 29th, and involved a team of researchers, known as the SMG or the Special Mechanisms Group, that performed the blockage as part of an experiment.

The aim was to show there’s a facet of the proposer-builder separation system that could be exploited in such a manner. This system is meant to boost censorship resistance within the blockchain, as well as improve security and scalability. Doing so would be achieved through the separation of the block buildings into proposers and builders. The former proposes the introduction of new blocks to the larger chain, while the latter constructs the contents, being in charge of validating transactions and orders.

The research team needed nothing else but their own transaction to force an Ethereum block, then took to outlining the problem and discussing the potential ways to address it. The investors’ reaction has been mixed, with some pointing out that the blockchain’s gas fees would make it rather impossible to delay the transaction for too long. However, others claim that it’s important for investors to be aware of the possible issues.

In fact, the problem might cause trouble for some of Ethereum’s core aspects. Since the blockchain is designed to be credibly neutral, anytime transactions cannot be performed and included in a block; investors react negatively. However, for most traders, the concept of “censorship” refers to permanently preventing a transaction instead of temporarily delaying it.

Others have claimed that the issue is nothing new and that regular investors have proven before that it can be quite cheap to censor a few blocks. The SMG maintains that the current situation is different and that when bidders or financial agents can edit competing blockchains, the fundamental idea at the basis of the blockchain becomes eroded. According to them, censorship resistance is swift and efficient, not something that will be completed eventually, even if the time for completion is just a little over ten seconds.

To sum up, the Ethereum market is still navigating a difficult time. The situation is still changing, and investors must be aware of the challenges. It’s important to go in with a strong energy that can ensure you take care of your portfolio and are ready to withstand anything that comes your way. The upcoming bull run, however, has given many reasons to be optimistic about the future of Ethereum and crypto investments in general.