While the recent cryptocurrency market performance has made many investors anxious, others are confident that it’s a good time to invest in cryptocurrencies. With Bitcoin, Ethereum and Terra all increasing in value over the last month, it is easy to see why. There are a number of predictions out there for how much these cryptocurrencies will increase by in the future so we decided to compile a list of our own predictions for their value in contrast with their current values. Our focus is on what we believe will affect their price more so than anything else: which regulatory agency they fall under and how far they are from mass adoption. We have also included comments about the probability of each prediction coming to pass. This is in no way a definitive list and there may be some choices we made that would have been better. To us, the differences are fairly minor.
Bitcoin
Bitcoin as a cryptocurrency will be around for many years to come due to its widespread adoption and use as a store of value. Even if it isn’t used as a form of payment, the coins will still be valuable. It is difficult to imagine that Bitcoin won’t become the reserve currency of cryptocurrencies at some point in the future. Some analysts suggest that this point will come before 2025. The problem is that this form of currency, which makes it very difficult to regulate, has created a number of problems for regulators such as: decreased security, increased centralization and lack of transparency. As a result, Bitcoin as a currency is highly unstable and due to its volatility, investors have to make decisions based on the day rather than the month or year.
Ethereum
Ethereum’s value is directly correlated with Bitcoin but unlike Bitcoin it can be used for payments directly by using Ethereum’s own built-in wallet. This could greatly increase Ethereum’s adoption as there is no particular reason why someone would want to use this cryptocurrency but not pay to use it with payment processors they already know and trust. In fact, this payment processing could help provide a secure way to transfer money outside of the traditional banking system, which could yield significant benefits. Ethereum has recently implemented new features that make this easier than ever and the possibility of mass adoption is strong.
XLM / Stellar Lumens
Stellar was initially created by Ripple as a competitor to Bitcoin and Ethereum but it is currently positioned as a non-profit organization with the goal of assisting other coins become successful in development, finding partners and publicizing their view on cryptocurrency discourse. If they succeed they may have a very successful coin on their hands but with only 5 million XLM tokens in circulation, it will take some time for adoption to take off.
Terra / TRAC
Terra is more of a cryptocurrency than any other coin on this list as it is used to develop its own blockchain. TRAC also works with other coins to help them achieve success. It is one of the only coins with a working product that can be used by the public and has been in development for at least two years. It will likely be the first coin to receive widespread adoption for mass usage and it will have plenty of time before the competition follows in its path. Terra’s price has been fairly stable and it currently holds around $3 USD per coin so it has not yet increased significantly. This is probably because of the fact that TRAC currently has a market cap of just over $76 million USD and the current supply is only about 37 million.
Tesla & Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/YSswJmVZhP
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 12, 2021
XRP / Ripple
Since its creation in 2014, XRP has proven itself to be one of the most successful coins in existence. A big part of this is due to the partnership between Ripple and SWIFT but some worry that it could also limit XRP’s long-term success as a coin. The problem here is that many people feel like XRP has no place in digital currency because it is owned by banks and aims to replace BTC instead of complementing it like other coins.
