Ethereum: Does it carry the best risk/reward potential in 2021?

Alongside Bitcoin, Ethereum has had an impressive 2020. While Ethereum 2.0 faced a little bit of delay towards the start of the year, the beacon chain underwent a successful launch as the year progressed. In fact, its staking module gathered a lot of interest too, with over $1.54 billion Ether staked, at press time.

That’s not all, however, as it would seem that Ethereum’s on-chain metrics are making waves as well.

According to Glassnode, 90% of Ethereum’s addresses are currently in profit, a figure that was last witnessed back in January 2018. Interestingly, back in March 2020, only 3.2% of the addresses were in profit, a finding that supports the improvement over the past 9 months. However, in complete contrast to what was the situation back in January 2018, a lot has changed for the world’s largest altcoin, with Ethereum re-visiting $700 for only the 2nd time in its history.

It hasn’t been a period full of flash hikes and sudden crashes for Ether in 2020. The world’s largest altcoin moved up the ladder in a periodic fashion and even led the altcoin rally back in mid-July.

Becoming one of the most distributed assets across multiple platforms did not hurt its credentials either. However, the development of its intrinsic value is the highlight of 2020. Ether is no longer considered just another asset competing with Bitcoin and going forward, it may not even cater to the same user base.

In various sound arguments for Bitcoin, its characteristics as a hedge asset or a store-of-value have held higher credibility, while Ethereum has often veered in the direction of transactional efficiency with PoS. In light of its improving, and possibly evolving blockchain, another class of investors might be taking notice in 2021.

Bitcoin received a lot of respect from the institutional market in 2020, with several accredited investors vocally supporting BTC. Major firms all around the world have started to accumulate BTC at a rapid rate. Fast forward to 2021, and it might not be outlandish to suggest that the same interest may flood in the direction of Ethereum as well.

Consider this – CME recently announced its plan to launch Ethereum Futures in February 2021. Needless to say, the exchange definitely did not come to this decision without recognizing the potential in Ether.

Now, here is the actual catch. While CME’s ETH Futures launch may not have an immediate impact on Ethereum, investors will definitely note that ETH is still more than 50% away from its previous all-time high. Under the current market structure, with respect to historical highs and present valuation, Ethereum is likely to provide the best risk/reward returns.

Ergo, it seems likely that Ethereum will start 2021 in the manner that it will be ending 2020 – on the front foot.