With the energy-efficient Proof-of-Stake (PoS), token-burning features, and its continued dominance in the smart contract sector, it is no surprise that most long-term predictions for 2040 and 2050 for Ethereum price are bullish.
Ethereum has established itself as the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, commanding an impressive $365 billion valuation at the time of writing. However, many crypto enthusiasts predict that Ethereum could reach much greater heights in the future.
In this article, we’ll be taking a look at different scenarios for the price of ETH, including an Ethereum price prediction for 2040 and 2050. We’ll also be checking out the main factors that could drive Ethereum price growth over the long term and also consider some short-term predictions for the price of ETH.
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Key highlights:
- Ethereum's PoS, token-burning features, and DeFi dominancecontribute to bullish long-term price predictions for 2040 and 2050.
- Different scenarios suggest ETH prices could range from $18,341 to $186,237 by 2040 and 2050, depending on growth rates.
- Algorithmic predictions indicate Ethereum could reach $41,239 by 2040 and exceed $110,700 by 2050.
- Key factors like EIP-1559's deflationary mechanism and scalability improvements may drive Ethereum's long-term growth.
Here’s a quick look at different potential Ethereum growth scenarios using ETH’s past price growth and S&P 500 long-term average as a basis:
| 2025 | 2030 | 2040 | 2050 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ETH price prediction (5% annual growth) | $3,203 | $4,292 | $6,991 | $11,387 |
| ETH price prediction (3-year CAGR)* | $3,552 | $8,857 | $40,614 | $186,237 |
| ETH price prediction (S&P 500 historical ROI)** | $3,389 | $6,384 | $18,341 | $52,692 |
| ETH price prediction (CoinCodex algorithm) | $5,351 | $7,160 | $41,239 | $110,735 |
Based on Ethereum’s price as of April 16, 2024(1 ETH = $3,050) *Price data was derived from Ethereum’s compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the past 3 years (roughly 16.45%). **All price data was derived from the S&P 500’s average rate of return over the past 50 years (roughly 11.13%).
Before we get started with the predictions, however, let’s quickly consider Ethereum’s price history to get a better understanding of how ETH has performed in the past.
Ethereum price history
The Ethereum project held an ICO in 2014, during which the founding team raised funds for development. In the Ethereum ICO, users were able to purchase ETH at a price of roughly $0.31 per coin.
Ethereum made its debut on the open market in the summer of 2015, and it spent several months beneath the $1 level before a rally in the spring of 2016 took the ETH price above $10 for the first time ever. The Ethereum price surpassed $100 for the first time ever by May 2017, and the coin managed to break the $1,000 milestone for the first time in January of 2018.
Ethereum’s all-time high came in November of 2018, when the ETH price peaked around the $4,850 mark.
In terms of yearly returns, 2017 was the strongest year for Ethereum, with the ETH price increasing by a whopping 9,400% that year. However, 2018 turned out to be the toughest year for ETH holders to date, as the ETH price saw an 82% decrease.
Historically, Q1 and Q2 have been the strongest quarters for ETH, with an average performance of +208% and +80%, respectively.
Ethereum price prediction for 2040
Making predictions for such a long period of time is very difficult, especially when it comes to highly volatile assets like Ethereum. For example, if we assume that Ethereum will continue its 3-year compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.45%, 1 ETH will be worth $186,237by 2050. This is likely not a realistic price target, as such a price would mean a $33 trillionmarket cap for ETH.
As another example, let’s take a look at what the ETH price would be in 2040 if ETH matched the average yearly growth of the S&P 500, the benchmark index for the U.S. stock market. Between 1973 and 2023, the S&P 500 has grown by an average of 11.13% per year. If ETH grows by 11.13% per year on average, the ETH price prediction for 2040 is approximately $18,341.
1 ETH would be worth $18,341 in 2040 based on an 11.1% yearly growth rate. Calculate your potential ETH profits with our Ethereum profit calculator.
This is a much more realistic scenario, as it would translate to a $1.68 trillion market cap for Ethereum. Bitcoin's market capitalization reached a $1.4 trillion peak, so a $2.06 trillion target for Ethereum in 2040 doesn’t sound impossible at all, especially if Ethereum continues to gain adoption.
Ethereum price prediction for 2050
Moving further into the future, let’s check out what the price of ETH would be in 2050 if the coin grew at the same rate as the average yearly growth of the S&P 500 (11.1%).
We won’t be using Ethereum’s average yearly growth as a benchmark, as we’ve already seen that it projects some truly outlandish prices.
If Ethereum were to grow by an average yearly rate of 11.1%, the ETH price prediction for 2050 would be approximately $52,692. This would imply a market capitalization of $5.91 trillion, based on the current ETH supply.
No cryptocurrency has reached such a valuation so far. Even the total cryptocurrency market cap hasn’t reached $5.9 trillion, having peaked at $3 trillion in November 2021.
Long-term catalysts for Ethereum
There are a number of arguments why Ethereum could see strong price growth over the long term. Let’s take a look at some of the main long-term catalysts that could have a positive impact on the Ethereum price in the future.
ETH burning via EIP-1559
Arguably, the most bullish fundamental factor going in favor of Ethereum is the EIP-1559 mechanism, which was introduced in August 2021. Under EIP-1559, the base fee paid for Ethereum transactions is burned, but users have the option to provide a “tip” to validators to have their transactions prioritized.
The deflationary pressure on the ETH supply was supercharged in September 2022, when the upgrade known as The Merge moved Ethereum over to a Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism. Now that Ethereum is running on Proof-of-Stake, the protocol needs to issue a much smaller amount of ETH than what was required during Ethereum’s Proof-of-Work era.
Under the Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism, the Ethereum protocol issued about 13,000 ETH per day. After the move to Proof-of-Stake, only about 1,600 ETH are issued daily.
Combined with EIP-1559, this has actually resulted in the total supply of Ethereum decreasing. This deflationary pressure grows stronger when demand for Ethereum transactions increases, so we could see a significant decrease in the ETH supply if the network reaches mainstream adoption. This would contribute significantly to making Ethereum a good investment moving forward.
Scalability improvements
Scalability has been one of the biggest challenges hampering Ethereum’s potential for mass adoption. To put it simply—when there’s a lot of demand for transacting on Ethereum, the network becomes extremely expensive to use, even for basic operations. Ethereum transaction fees regularly exceeded $10 during the 2021 crypto bull market, which is simply too much for a network that is looking to provide widespread financial inclusion.
Thankfully, developers in the Ethereum ecosystem are well aware of these issues and are working on improvements that will allow Ethereum to handle a much larger number of transactions at a fraction of the cost.
In the future, we’ll see scaling improvements on the Ethereum base layer, especially sharding. In addition, there are also layer 2 scaling solutions being created on top of the Ethereum mainnet, many of which you can already try out now thanks to platforms like Arbitrum and Optimism.
Algorithmic Ethereum price predictions for 2040 and 2050
Now that we’ve covered some long-term scenarios for Ethereum, let’s check out the ETH price prediction for 2040and 2050 based on the current technical indicators.
Per the algorithmic Ethereum price prediction on CoinCodex, ETH could see a big improvement in the coming years, with the price reaching $41,239 by 2040. What's more, ETH could surpass the $110,000 mark during the Bitcoin halving cycle around the year 2050.
The bottom line
Overall, we can say that Ethereum has a lot of potential for future growth and is a strong choice if you want to invest in crypto. Ethereum is currently the leading platform for smart contracts and decentralized applications, and there aren’t any competitors that pose a serious threat to Ethereum’s dominance. In fact, we’re seeing an increasing number of projects choosing to build on top of Ethereum instead of launching competitors of their own.
Making an ETH price prediction for 2040 or even 2050 is quite difficult, as Ethereum has been around for less than a decade, and the price of ETH has displayed a lot of volatility. Even though it’s hard to say exactly what will happen to the ETH price in the future, Ethereum is easily one of the best cryptocurrencies to buy at the moment. Also, it is predicted to have a strong showing after the 2024 Bitcoin halving, which could boost its prospectsas a short to medium-term investment option.
For additional long-term predictions, check our following analyses:
