Ethereum’s Market Cap Might Reach $20 Trillion By 2030

 

Cathy Woods’ Ark Invest predicts that Ethereum will reach a market cap of $20 trillion within the next ten years. It translates to around $170,000 to $180,000 per ETH.

Ark Invest is a technology-focused U.S.-based asset management firm with $12.43 billion in assets under management.

The predictions in the Ark Invest report Big Ideas 2022 are based on the Ethereum network’s growth rate in terms of utility and efficiency. Over the past two years, much of the growth has come from decentralized finance (DeFi).

According to Ark, smart contracts and decentralized applications on Ethereum are usurping traditional financial functions on the fringes.

The report highlights that banking and lending, exchanges, brokerage, asset management, insurance, and derivatives can be found in Ethereum-based smart contracts.

More importantly, DeFi is also more efficient. Ark estimates that DeFi outperformed traditional finance by $88 million to $8 million in revenue per employee over the past 12 months.

Bitcoin Could Be Worth More Than $1 Million By 2030

Additionally, the report predicted big things for Bitcoin (BTC), saying it may expand as countries adopt it as legal tender.

On the Bitcoin side, the report predicts that each BTC will be worth $1.36 million by 2030, with a market cap of $28.5 trillion. Ark researchers assigned an estimated future value to eight use cases for Bitcoin and used the sum of all of these use cases to conclude the price of BTC.

By 2030, the company expects Bitcoin to account for 50% of global remittances, 10% of emerging market currencies, 25% of U.S. bank settlements, 1% of international, national treasuries, and 5% of global high-net-worth individuals at a rate of 1.5x Wealth, 2.55% of institutional asset base, 5% of S&P 500 corporate cash, and 50% of total gold market capitalization.

Both ETH and BTC have had tough times over the past seven days, down 22.2% and 13%, respectively.

 

Coinbase Rival FTX U.S. Valued $8 Billion As Investors Brace For ‘Crypto Winter’

 

FTX U.S., the U.S. subsidiary of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, said Wednesday it has raised $400 million in its first round of outside funding.

The investment brings FTX US’s valuation to $8 billion, making it one of the world’s most valuable private crypto companies. Investors in the round include Temasek, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, and SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2.

The deal shows that the confidence of start-up investors in the nascent digital asset industry has not wavered, even as the price of bitcoin and other tokens has fallen sharply.

The world’s two largest virtual currencies, Bitcoin and ether, have lost nearly half of their value since hitting record highs in November, while smaller tokens such as Solana and Cardano have fallen even more.

The slump worries that a sharper recession dubbed the “crypto winter,” could be on the horizon. Brett Harrison, president of FTX USA, said the market volatility showed that cryptocurrencies are a volatile asset class.

 

What Is The History Of FTX?

 

FTX was founded in Hong Kong in 2019 by 29-year-old crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried. The larger company, which investors recently valued at $25 billion, has moved its headquarters to the Bahamas.

Bankman-Fried established FTX U.S. as a U.S. sister exchange to differentiate it from his central exchange, as officials in Washington began to take a closer look at the digital currency market. The platform launched the trading feature in May 2020.

In a trading update on Wednesday, FTX US said that after Bitcoin hit an all-time high of nearly $69,000, the average daily trading volume on its platform will increase sevenfold in 2021, peaking at more than $800 million in November.

The firm facilitated more than $67 billion in spot crypto transactions last year. It now has around 1.2 million registered users in total.

FTX U.S. hopes the investment will help it gain an edge over competitors like Coinbase and Robinhood. Like FTX, the company is moving into derivatives — contracts that allow investors to speculate on asset performance. It acquired crypto futures and options exchange LedgerX in October.

Harrison said the U.S. crypto derivatives market pales compared to international markets. Investors see a significant opportunity to bring the bulk of the volume onshore.

Coinbase is seeking a similar move outside of spot trading, agreeing earlier this month to acquire derivatives exchange FairX.

 

Mcdonald’s Sells Job Applications As NFTs For 0.01 Ethereum

 

Although the crypto market has recently declined and major Bitcoin significantly dropped, the NFT market continues to boom. More and more sales records are set in the NFT market, and crypto enthusiasts tweet about their latest NFT purchases.

Now, even McDonald’s has started selling on OpenSea, selling 1,111 employee job applications in the form of NFTs. The first 1,000 apps users can mint for free, while the remaining 111 apps cost 0.01 ETH (currently worth about $25).

The current trading volume of the NFT collection is 25 ETH, and the reserve price is 0.016 ETH.

The McDonald’s NFT collection description writes, have been mocking the current bearish crypto sentiment: “ETH going down? Can’t afford living? We got you! Apply now to your dream 9 to 5 McDonalds job with our application.”