SparkDAO Industry observation | Ethereum giant whale number decline, will affect price expectations?

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Price expectations are down

Recently, cryptocurrency assets have been under pressure from the macro environment. ETH, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market value, has fallen nearly 5% in the past week, falling below the $3,000 mark. ETH has depreciated by more than 40% since it hit an all-time high in November, with many analysts lowering their price forecasts for ETH as compared to previous forecasts.

In last October, Finder.The com report predicts that the ETH will rise to $5,144 by the end of 2021, however, the current price is well below that forecast price.Currently, the Finder.The com lowered its forecast for ETH, with ETH 2022 year-end targets of $6,500, $10,810 in 2025 and $26,338 in 2030.The report noted that, " The panel's price forecast for ETH by 2030 has been significantly lowered.The outlook for price growth in the cryptocurrency market was severely affected by increasingly tightening international regulations and a decline in macro financial markets in early 2022.”

CoinFlip founder Daniel Polotsky, even more pessimistic, said that " due to rival performance, ETH will struggle to exceed $4,000 by the end of 2022.It should also be noted that the current utility of ETH depends on the success of a two-tier solution, such as Polygon (MATIC), which will remove most of the network value from ETH."In 2021, Polygon has developed into an integral part of the Ethereum ecosystem, and as MATIC has begun to expand by itself, analysts fear it could compete with ETH in the future.This concern compares the price performance of ETH (+ 62%) and MATIC (+ 1394%) over the past year.

ETH's high trading fees fell recently.On February 13, the fees hit its lowest level since last July.According to Santiment, the drop in fees was due to the recent price depreciation experienced in ETH, as well as lower demand for transactions.

There was also a significant decline in giant whale numbers on the ETH chain, suggesting that large ETH holders may be withdrawing on a large scale.addresses holding more than 1000 ETH have reached their lowest point since 2018.

More companies will be involved in the ETH consensus layer

On the other hand, institutions optimistic about ETH are also supporting the development of ETH network with actions.Ether Capital, a Canadian-based listed company, has once again added 10,240 ETH (approximately $30 million) to the beacon chain pledge.The company has now invested $60 million in the beacon chain network.

Ether Capital attracted media attention in 2021, when it became one of the first public companies to use millions of dollars on the pledge of the ETH beacon chain.As part of its financial strategy, the firm is determined to support the development of the network and its Web 3 ecosystem and become its investment focus.Ether Capital has a portfolio of over 44,061 ETH and plans to allocate at least 30,000 E T H to the ETH 2.0 pledge, representing 65% of its total E T H, suggesting that the company is optimistic about the Ethereum consensus layer development.

To achieve this goal, Ether Capital has established a partnership with Figment to build and run its validator infrastructure.Therefore, it is not only an investor in Ethereum moving to the PoS consensus, but also a direct contributor to cybersecurity. In addition, the company will convert 766 MKR into earnings, or about $1.9 million.These funds will be used for "general corporate purposes," such as buying stock or increasing their ETH balances.Ether Capital has a market valuation of $166 M, based on its ETH balances and MKR balances, and its investments in paying for Wyre, an API provider.

Recently, Ether Capital CEO Brian Mossoff has once again highlighted its commitment to the ETH ecosystem, which has pledged over 20,000 ETH items, and most of the company's ETH balance will be pledged in the next few months.Ether Capital will be firmly committed to becoming a unique strategy for an ETH hoarder and providing validation and security for ETH networks.

Brian Mossoff was interviewed about Ether Capital's involvement in ETH pledge, encryption adoption, and its 2022 plans.Asked if the ETH pledge would interest other listed companies, he said, " There is still a long way to go for listed companies holding ETH, but eventually more institutions adopt the asset.At present, the capital markets have a special liking for BTC.But innovations such as DeFi and NFT have attracted attention, and now institutions with young employees are following ETH.”

Data show that the number of people pledged on the ETH chain is 9.52 million ETH, the pledge rate is about 8%, and the return rate is 5% per year. The current beacon chain has more than 294,000 active verifiers, and the participation rate reaches 97.44%.

*The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of SparkDAO. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.