Bitcoin has slightly decreased in price to the level of $45,400. Ethereum fell to the $3,300 mark, and XRP reached $1.09. The total capitalization of the cryptocurrency market was $2.09 trillion.
The average bitcoin hashrate for seven days continues to recover confidently and has already reached the central point between the recent lows and the absolute maximum. On Thursday, the indicator reached 135 hashes per second, which is 50% higher than the July minimum of about 90 EH/s, but still lower by the same amount of the maximum of 180 EH/s, which was set before the start of an active fight against mining in China this summer. One could assume that Chinese miners have already moved half of the equipment, and the hashrate will recover to previous levels by the end of the year, but in reality the situation is more complicated. North American miners who placed pre-orders last year are now starting to receive them. These are new devices that are not connected in any way with the disabled Chinese miners. According to the available sales information, large companies should deliver an average of at least 25,000 devices from the latest lines to large enterprises in North America every month. As a result, thanks to the new equipment, after the migration is completed, the hashrate will be even higher than it was before. Nevertheless, the movement from China is slower than one might have expected. This is due to the lack of space for placing equipment.
Bitcoin and Ethereum have not yet exhausted their long-term growth potential, and the second cryptocurrency is more promising in this regard than the first, analysts of the British banking corporation Standard Chartered believe. In a new report, they compare Ethereum with a financial market where a variety of services can develop, including lending, insurance and asset exchange. Bitcoin, in turn, is more like a currency. Thus, the possibilities of using Ethereum are wider, which means that over time it can match bitcoin in terms of capitalization. According to the bank's forecast, in the long term, the cost of bitcoin will be $50000-175000, and the cost of Ethereum will be from $26,000 to $35,000. Ethereum is unlikely to reach these goals before bitcoin rises to the upper limit of the designated range, analysts say.
To fulfill the forecast, bitcoin still needs to rise in price by almost 4 times, and Ethereum - by 10 times. And since bitcoin is more like a currency, analysts evaluated it taking into account the capitalization of the payment card market and the potential for servicing people who do not have access to bank accounts. When evaluating Ethereum, they were based on the cost of global banks and payment card service companies. Analysts admit that the forecast for the second cryptocurrency may seem overly optimistic, noting that the current price of the token reflects the relative complexity and uncertainty of the development of the network. In other words, although Ethereum may surpass bitcoin in terms of potential profitability, the risks are also higher. More certainty can be expected with the completion of the transition to Ethereum 2.0. At the same time, the scalability and functionality of the cryptocurrency will increase, analysts say.
The forecast for the coming week suggests a decline in bitcoin to the levels of 45200, 45000, 43500, 43000 and 41000 dollars. Ethereum will decline to the levels of 3270, 3250, 3200, 3100 and 3000 dollars, and XRP – to the supports of 1.07, 1.05, 1.03, 1.02 and 1 dollar.