Making the right investment during bear markets can be a challenging choice. Especially when having to choose between Bitcoin and Ethereum. Both of these digital assets carry a wide range of benefits in the short and long term. At the same time, they have a lot of dissimilarities that could make them decorrelate from each other and perform quite differently under certain circumstances.
So, is it the right time to exchange BTC to ETH now? To answer this question, we explore some of the latest developments in both of these cryptocurrencies’ ecosystems. In addition, we will take a look at some expert forecasts regarding their future price development to see which asset could outperform the other.
What’s Happening With Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is the original cryptocurrency that initiated a new form of decentralized money. Through its blockchain protocol, it allowed humanity to look beyond centralized currencies and access a genuine peer-to-peer monetary system.
While the success wasn’t immediate, Bitcoin has come a long way since it was released in 2008. Today, it’s considered by many as a most solid store of value, allowing to hedge against inflation and save capital through a liquid, digital asset. In the past couple of years, we saw a huge influx of institutional investors choose Bitcoin as a long-term investment asset, which increased its adoption significantly.
However, Bitcoin also has some drawbacks. The main one for many investors is that Bitcoin uses a lot of energy for confirming transactions on its network. Due to its proof-of-work consensus mechanism, it requires miners to power through mathematical puzzles that become increasingly difficult over time.
While enthusiasts consider this as a necessary evil, mining has caused many mainstream investors to look for other, more sustainable digital currencies for daily transactions.
Bitcoin’s price has seen better days, as it has been declining for the better part of 2022. It came to a high point in November 2021, when it reached $69,000. However, it has been struggling ever since, putting the price level at around $23,000 at the time of writing.
Regardless of these shortcomings, experts in the crypto industry predict steady growth for the original cryptocurrency.
Digitalcoinprice.com expects it to reach $37,398 in 2023, In 2030, their forecast targets a 6-figure Bitcoin, $110,998.
Priceprediction.net is much more bullish on BTC, especially in the long term. While their prediction for 2023 gives a target of $46,985, their forecast for 2030 is quite incredible — $628,945.
How Is Ethereum Doing?
Ethereum is the second-highest valued crypto by market cap right after Bitcoin and the #1 smart contract platform on a global level. The Ethereum network introduced the public to the concept of decentralized applications and pushed software development to another level. Today, more than 90% of decentralized apps run on Ethereum, making it the largest platform in DeFi.
An important upcoming event for Ethereum is the Merge, which will happen in September 2022. After the merge, Ethereum will shift from a proof-of-work mechanism to a more sustainable and eco-friendly proof-of-stake consensus engine.
Many consider that this event will be the main driver that pushes toward mass adoption of decentralized finance, NFTs, and blockchain games. It will ultimately make Ethereum more scalable and consume 99% less power for validating transactions.
While this development is incredibly bullish for the Ethereum platform, this hasn’t exactly translated into price action. Just like Bitcoin, ETH is suffering from the bear market, and its price has gone from an all-time high of $4,800 to the current range of $1,700.
Nevertheless, analysts believe that the merge, combined with another bullish cycle might drive prices much higher.
Digitalcoinprice.com already expects it to reach $2,770 by 2023 while providing an $8,036 target for 2030.
Priceprediction.net has already put ETH at $3,410 in 2023, while they expect it to reach as high as $47,468 by 2030.
Should You Convert BTC to ETH at the Moment?
Considering that Ethereum is on the brink of an unprecedented protocol evolution, it’s very probable that it will outperform Bitcoin by a large margin. While BTC remains a solid investment asset, analysts believe that Ethereum is highly undervalued and could make as much as 2,000% gains. This makes it a great occasion to use an anonymous crypto exchange to swap some BTC for ETH.
That said, the cryptocurrency market remains quite unpredictable, and the Merge could not go as planned. At worst, it could get delayed and give Bitcoin the time to get closer to another reward halving, which usually precedes a bullish cycle.
