Ethereum and the art world

by Ian Mcleod

The art world could help to boost the price of Ethereum in the coming weeks, taking it to $500 before the end of this year.

Quite the statement. Yet despite cryptocurrency Ethereum’s price being in bear territory in recent weeks, I am confident that the art world will help to elevate the price of this 39-month old coin.

As the world’s second largest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin, Ethereum has experienced a 58 per cent price drop over the past 90 trading days and continues to trade at a price that is as much as 85 per cent less than its all-time high value.

Earlier this month we saw Ethereum fall short of breaking the $208 and $210 resistance levels against the U.S. dollar.

However, although prices of this cryptocurrency have fallen substantially, it can be reasonably assumed that this trend will overturn during the last quarter of 2018.

Once the digital currency returns to bull territory, I am of the opinion that there will be a significant upswing with extensive gains.

Indeed, as well as reaching the $500 mark by the end of the year, I believe the currency will continue to enjoy an uptick during 2019.

A majority of the predicted price rises of Ethereum will be driven by a rising number of sectors, such as finance, antiques and real estate using this digital currency and its outstanding blockchain technology.

As such, the art world is highly likely to be one of the principal adopters of this cryptocurrency as blockchain can authenticate artwork.

The distributed ledger technology is ideal for the art world as it enables a permanent, unassailable record of the artwork to be stored at the point of creation. This can then be utilised to validate registered works of art by any party.

Furthermore, as well as Ethereum being an essentially strong digital currency, the blockchain technology underpinning it offers actual, effective solutions for a large number of sectors, it is a problem-solver and enriches existing systems.

Looking ahead, although Ethereum is ranked in second position by market cap value, currently standing at $20.95 billion, to my mind we can forecast Bitcoin to lose as much as 50 per cent of its cryptocurrency market share to its closest competitor, Ethereum within the next five years.

Taking into account every factor other than price, Ethereum is already streets ahead of Bitcoin. This divide will become increasingly evident as the number of crypto investors continues to soar.