Money Moves into Ethereum, Trading Takes Over Bitcoin’s Share

The trend of funds flowing into Ethereum is not just a fluke, causing the asset to spike 16% in a day.

A curious phenomenon continues for Ethereum (ETH), indicating an unexpected sort of “flippening” and a challenge to Bitcoin’s position. For months, the share of Ethereum trading took up less than 10% of all market deals, while Bitcoin trades accounted for more than 36% of the market.

But now, there are more and more indications that for some reason, money is flowing into Ethereum. The ETH digital asset is seeing up to 20% of volumes dependent on Tether (USDT), but the highest share belongs to the US dollar and the Korean Won.

ETH moved more actively, regaining 1.4% on Asian trading to stand at $767.02, up 16% this week. The volumes in the past 24 hours reached above $4 billion.

An additional phenomenon gives a boost to Ethereum - hashing power to the network has grown by about 10% since the beginning of May, suggesting that ASIC machines may be coming on board.

All of the above factors are changing the risk profile of Ethereum, to turn it into an entirely different phenomenon for 2018. Bullish price predictions see it rise to $1,500. But even more optimistic views see ETH continue to displace Bitcoin. At the same time, some believe ETH will only command a depressed price of up to $400 and be used only as a utility coin for gas costs.

But Ethereum is also facing short-term risks, mostly from ICOs liquidating their holdings. Recently, the EOS project showed it may be preparing to sell ETH:

In the past, ICO activity has helped push down ETH prices, down to the $400 range, before the recent recovery. It is possible that the increased trading and the various markets for ETH will mitigate the risk, especially if EOS tries to use ETH to prop up its own digital asset. At this point, a large-scale movement out of ETH coins and into fiat for operational costs would be impossible through Bitfinex, which is a crypto-only exchange. Hence the explanation that ETH coins may be used to prop up EOS.