BitMEX co-founder forecasts Ethereum above $10,000 by the end of 2022

Former BitMEX CEO and co-founder Arthur Hayes explained why 2022 would be a pivotal year for Ethereum, and issued a bullish forecast for the cryptocurrency’s price.

According to the businessman, after the planned summer transition of the network to the Proof-of-Stake consensus algorithm, Ethereum will operate as a commodity bond. This would offer more attractive returns relative to other Layer 1 blockchains, which are largely overvalued.

Bitcoin will remain the ‘star’ of the market, Hayes believes. However, digital gold is ‘sound money’ that, by its own protocol, ‘brings nothing’.

The former BitMEX head cited Ethereum researcher Justin Drake. According to the latter’s calculations, ETH staker yields after the transition will be 8%–11.5% per year.

“The Ethereum community has clearly decided that ETH is a trading commodity used to power this computer, not a pure monetary instrument,” Hayes emphasized.

He noted that at the start of 2022 his portfolio consisted of BTC and ETH in equal weights. Given the forthcoming changes, Hayes plans to raise the share of the second-largest cryptocurrency in his portfolio to 75%.

The businessman also believes that the transition to Proof-of-Stake will make Ethereum attractive to traditional asset managers seeking to adhere to sustainable investing principles. The algorithm is regarded as more environmentally friendly than Bitcoin’s energy-intensive Proof-of-Work.

Hayes highlighted Ethereum’s edge over direct competitors across a range of fundamental metrics.

“Ethereum has around 4,000 developers, three times more than Polkadot, which has the second-largest cohort,” he noted.

Hayes also pointed to the price-to-address ratio and TVL, concluding that the network is cheaper and more efficient than other smart-contract platforms.

In his view, ‘Ethereum killers’ are still selling investors ‘hopes for a bright future’.

“The remainder of 2022 will be the year of ERC-20 angels led by his eminence Vitalik Buterin. Once everything settles by year-end, I believe ETH will be trading above $10,000,” Hayes concluded.

Earlier, in February, the businessman pleaded guilty to a single count of violating U.S. law and agreed to pay a $10 million fine.

In October 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice brought charges under the Bank Secrecy Act against BitMEX co-founders Hayes, Ben Delo, Samuel Reed and Greg Dwyer, head of business development.