A recent survey by the online cryptocurrency portal CryptoVantage focused on American attitudes toward cryptocurrencies and produced some intriguing findings. According to the study, 78% of respondents think Bitcoin will surpass its previous record high, but only 23% think it will peak in the upcoming year, and 47% think it will happen over the next five years. Only 8% of people believe Bitcoin will never hit its all-time high again.

Interestingly, 21% of respondents think Dogecoin (DOGE) has the highest chance of ever outpacing Bitcoin in market value, while 46% of Americans think Ethereum (ETH) has the best chance.

The “Q2 2023 Signals Report” from Fidelity Digital Assets, which was released on July 18, 2023, also contained some intriguing data on the development and prospects for Bitcoin and Ethereum.

According to the research, Bitcoin and Ether have a solid growth path ahead. With a gain of about 85% year-to-date (YTD), Bitcoin has maintained significant price levels as on-chain indicators stabilize post-speculative activity. With a YTD increase of almost 62%, Ether displays potentially positive price signals and growing on-chain metrics.

There has been a net decrease in the supply of more than 700,000 Ether since the eagerly anticipated “Merge” in September 2022, suggesting less issuance. The growing number of Ethereum addresses performing their first transaction indicates a healthy network adoption.

Additionally, there were 15% more active Ethereum validators in the second quarter, indicating a rise in network security awareness.

Growth Beyond 2023

However, a lot is happening in the Ethereum ecosystem regarding new developments, and the community is eagerly anticipating significant changes predicted to increase platform usage and user interest. Two crucial actions that will soon be implemented and are projected to improve the Ethereum ecosystem considerably are the adoption of EIP4844 and the launch of the base mainnet.

The much-anticipated improvement EIP4844, which is expected to be operational by the end of the year, seeks to significantly lower costs related to rollups. To boost Ethereum’s transaction throughput while retaining its security, rollups are a layer 2 scaling solution. This change will probably improve user experience and entice more developers to the platform by lowering rollup expenses.

With the potential to bring millions of additional users to the ecosystem, launching the basic mainnet is another crucial milestone for Ethereum. The mainnet’s extension will enable easier onboarding and participation in the Ethereum network as the popularity of decentralized finance (DeFi) and blockchain applications soars. This improved accessibility may lead to a major rise in the acceptance and usage of Ethereum.

Ethereum’s rollup solutions are undergoing general enhancements in addition to these essential ones, which will help users and developers. These improvements are anticipated to improve the platform’s layer 2 solutions’ general performance, effectiveness, and usability, encouraging more usage and innovation within the ecosystem.

Additionally, the Ethereum community is anticipating the vibrant growth of new applications on rollups, layer 2s, and layer 3. Through these developments, novel DeFi platforms, autonomous worlds, and the tokenization of physical assets are all predicted to emerge. It is anticipated that the Ethereum ecosystem will experience a surge of innovative and disruptive applications as developers explore the potential of these new capabilities.