This Coin Is The 'Middle Child Of Crypto' And Will Make A Strong Comeback In 2025 As 'Contrarian Play,' Says Bitwise CIO

A leading industry expert predicts a resurgence for Ethereum ETH/USD in 2025, as does Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan, who sees the second-biggest crypto as a “contrarian play.”

What Happened: In a recent interview on Altcoin Daily, Hougan expressed his confidence in Ethereum, calling it the “middle child” of crypto—not as groundbreaking as Bitcoin BTC/USD or as trendy as newer blockchains like Solana SOL/USD, Sui SUI/USD or Aptos APT/USD.

While Ethereum faces challenges such as fee compression and a shift to Layer-2 solutions, Hougan believes it remains the leading blockchain for critical applications like stablecoins, decentralized finance (DeFi) and tokenization. Another bullish factor is that large traditional financial institutions continue to prefer Ethereum for building on a public blockchain.

Though 2024 was a transition year for Ethereum, Hougan views it as undergoing a “teenage adjustment” in its architecture, missing out on the excitement surrounding Bitcoin and Solana. However, he predicts that Ethereum will emerge as a strong contrarian play in 2025.

Also Read: Bitcoin Defies Election Jitters, Analyst Sees King Crypto Scaling $70K Milestone Again ‘In The Coming Weeks’

Why It Matters: Benjamin Cowen, founder and CEO of IntoCryptoVerse, shares a similar outlook, predicting that Ethereum will likely be weak until the end of the year but gain renewed strength in 2025.

Cowen commented on the ETH/BTC ratio, noting that while traders were bullish at 0.08, many have become bearish at 0.038, indicating a market overreaction. He predicts the ratio will bottom between 0.03-0.04 by the end of 2024.

The analyst cautions, "Imagine holding ETH for 3 years thinking the flippening was going to happen, only to capitulate during the quarter that it bottoms."

What’s Next: Ethereum's trajectory as a key player in the crypto space and the influence of Ethereum as an institutional asset class is expected to be thoroughly explored at Benzinga’s upcoming Future of Digital Assets event on Nov. 19.

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