‘Ethereum is the best contrarian bet in crypto now,’ says Bitwise CEO

  • Bitwise exec claimed that ETH was the best contrarian bet. 
  • Cowen projected a strong ETH/BTC rebound in 2025. 

As a seasoned researcher with over two decades of experience in the dynamic world of cryptocurrencies, I have seen my fair share of market fluctuations and predictions that have either come true or been left behind as dust in the wind. However, the recent claims by Matt Hougan, Bitwise CEO, and Benjamin Cowen about Ethereum’s potential for a strong rebound in 2025 have caught my attention.


For a while now, Ethereum (ETH) has struggled to keep pace with Bitcoin (BTC) and Solana (SOL), a situation some analysts attribute to a condition they’ve labeled ‘middle child syndrome.’

Matt Hougan, Bitwise CEO, emphasized once more that Ethereum (ETH) remained a strong investment choice due to its dominant role as the host for the most promising applications in the cryptocurrency sector.

“Ethereum is the best contrarian bet in crypto right now.” 

Hougan added that ETH’s strong rebound could happen in 2025. 

2021 has seen Ethereum take a backseat due to intricate modifications happening within its structure, overshadowed by the buzz around Bitcoin and Solana. However, with these developments setting the stage for a unique investment opportunity, it may prove to be an astute move to consider Ethereum as a contrarian pick for 2025.

ETH challenges

Ethereum has faced mixed reactions to its March 2024 Dencun upgrade, which improved scaling and reduced L2s’ transaction costs. 

Yet, the update resulted in network actions shifting from the fundamental level to L2s, thus causing Ethereum to become inflational.

Analyzing this activity, pundits deemed BTC as a better SoV (store of value). 

The negative sentiment dragged the ETH/BTC ratio down to yearly lows. This tracked ETH’s value relative to BTC. 

‘Ethereum is the best contrarian bet in crypto now,’ says Bitwise CEO

Similar to Hougan’s prediction, analyst Benjamin Cowen anticipates that the Ethereum-to-Bitcoin (ETH/BTC) ratio might hit its lowest point around the end of 2024, only to bounce back robustly in the year 2025. This forecast is based on past patterns and trends he’s observed.

It appears that the value of ETH against USD might remain low until the end of this year, similar to the trends observed in 2016 and 2019. These were also years when ETH’s value relative to BTC dropped significantly. However, I anticipate a resurgence in ETH’s strength around the year 2025.

‘Ethereum is the best contrarian bet in crypto now,’ says Bitwise CEO

Despite the FUD, ETH prices have been resilient amidst a market recovery in Q4. Since early October, the altcoin has bounced nearly 13%, from $2.3k to $2.6k.

It was valued at $2.63k at press time, about 53% away from its 2024 highs of 4k. 

Read More

2024-10-17 13:43