Ethereum Price Prediction as CFTC Chief Behnam Again Calls ETH a Commodity – Can ETH Overtake Bitcoin?

The price of Ethereum has gained by 5.5% in the past 24 hours, on a day when the cryptocurrency market appears to have shaken off the jitters caused by the CFTC charging Binance with a variety of compliance violations.

ETH is now up by 11% in the last 30 days and by 52% since the beginning of the year, with the coin helped by the news that CFTC Chairman Rostin Behman yesterday reaffirmed his view that it should be regarded as a commodity.

At a time when exchanges, and some token issuers, are facing legal action, this statement from the CFTC’s head has served to highlight the relative safety of investing in ETH, with the token’s rock-solid- fundamentals also helping it to beat most of the top 100 in the past few weeks and months.

And with the Shanghai upgrade due on April 12, it could witness further gains in the near (and distant) future, with institutions potentially lining up to engage in ETH staking.

Ethereum Price Prediction as CFTC Chief Behnam Again Calls ETH a Commodity – Can ETH Overtake Bitcoin?

ETH’s indicators continue to suggest that the coin’s current rally still has some gas left in the tank, even if it has been rising steadily for much of the year (so far).

Having opened March close to 30, its relative strength index (purple) is about to pass 60, signaling rising buying momentum.

ETH’s 30-day moving average (red) also shows no immediate sign of stopping its ascent relative to the 200-day average (blue), something which bodes well for further gains in the coming days.

Indeed, based on its current momentum alone, ETH has every chance of reaching $1,900 in the near future, providing the market doesn’t receive any further regulatory shocks. 

This, however, is a real possibility at the moment, what with Coinbase facing likely legal action from the SEC and the aforementioned move by the CFTC to charge Binance with a wide variety of alleged misdeeds.

That said, the aforementioned comments from Behnam suggest that Ethereum itself is safe from any regulatory crackdown.

Not only that, but Ethereum’s fundamentals remain enviably strong, with its roadmap suggesting that more gains could be on the way.

Most immediately, the all-important Shanghai update is now running on the Goerli testnet, with a full rollout due in only a couple of weeks.

Shanghai will enable the withdrawal of staked ETH (including staking rewards), something which is likely to increase bullishness for ETH insofar as it completes the upgrading process begun with last September’s Merge.

Yes, some have claimed that the update will result in a spike in selling pressure, yet this actually very unlikely.

Developers have designed Ethereum’s staking process in a way that sets limits on how many full withdrawals can be processed on a single day.

As of writing, this limit is currently set at 1,575 full withdrawals per day, given that the total active validator count is between 458,752 and 524,288.

Additionally, a significant portion of Ethereum validators are actually sitting on a loss, meaning that many will choose to wait before unstaking (and presumably selling).

This all makes Shanghai a net-positive Ethereum, with some experts expecting it to invite an increase in staking, particularly from institutional investors.

This includes JPMorgan analyst Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, who, in a research note published in February, predicted that Ethereum’s staking ratio would rise to 60% once Shanghai is complete.

If true, this would mean that around 60% of ETH’s circulating supply would be locked up via staking, and in turn this would increase buying pressure on the coin’s price.

Amplifying this buying pressure is the fact that ETH has become a semi-deflationary token ever since the Merge and EIP 1559, with its protocol now burning more ETH than it issues during busy periods (and Ethereum is becoming increasingly busy with each passing month).

Because of this, ETH has a real chance of passing $2,000 in the next few months, and assuming a more bullish market, it could even near $3,000 by the close of 2023.

From there, a return to its current all-time high of $4,878 could be possible next year, something which could potentially see ETH overtake BTC in terms of percentage gains.

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Alternatives to Ethereum

ETH remains a very strong cryptocurrency, given its positive momentum in recent weeks and its solid fundamentals.

However, it’s not the only coin in the market with potential, with a variety of newer altcoins also promising above-average gains in the near and more distant future.

The Cryptonews Industry Talk team has studied such coins and created a list of the top 15 cryptocurrencies for 2023, each with good short-term as well as long-term prospects.

This list is regularly updated with new altcoins and ICO projects.

^{Disclaimer: The Industry Talk section features insights by crypto industry players and is not a part of the editorial content of Cryptonews.com.}