It is evident that most people are keeping a very close eye on the Bitcoin price right now. While that is a good thing, there are plenty of other currencies and tokens which will all succeed in their own way. Some sources even claim Ethereum may reach a value of US$4,000 in 2018. Such thinking may seem delusional, but stranger things have happened in the world of cryptocurrency.

Can Ethereum Really Blow up in 2018?

There are many reasons why the Ethereum price will either remain flat or go up significantly in 2018. Some of today’s most interesting projects make use of the Ethereum infrastructure. Unfortunately, any effort associated with raising money on this platform seemingly causes the network to slow down and even become unusable for several hours. ICO projects are still quite popular, yet the Ethereum blockchain has had problems handling all of these transactions.

The most recent example of a project clogging up the Ethereum chain came in the form of CryptoKitties. Virtual cats issued on the blockchain were so popular that they essentially broke Ethereum for a few hours. Transactions were delayed beyond belief, and it almost felt worse than trying to send Bitcoin this past week. That wasn’t a positive sign by any means, especially since it’s not the first time this has happened.

Indeed, there were other ICOs this year which had the same effect on the Ethereum network. Thankfully, Ethereum’s developers are all too aware of these problems, and they will work to ensure that the scaling of Ethereum improves over time. Whether or not they will be successful in this regard remains to be seen, but there is no reason to doubt their abilities. The big question is whether or not most people even care if some of these projects run on Ethereum, as novice investors mainly focus on a project’s brand first and foremost.

A key concept which may push Ethereum toward US$1,000 and beyond is the smart contract. Though they’re of great interest to developers, there are a fair few issues with smart contracts these days. Until independent auditing becomes the new normal, people will continue to lose funds left, right, and center with Ethereum-related projects. Several projects were launched recently to focus on that particular issue, though, which can only be considered a good thing.

None of this is sufficient to propel Ethereum to a four-digit value in 2018. However, the upcoming changes to the core protocol may pave the way for big success down the line. That is, of course, assuming competing altcoins don’t outclass Ethereum in certain respects. Multiple other currencies focus on ICOs, smart contracts, and decentralization, and they don’t see user funds stolen or frozen whenever a mishap occurs.

It is evident Ethereum has a lot of potential, once all these issues and concerns are addressed properly. All of this will take time and effort. Next year may be too soon to see the ETH price hit four figures. It all depends on whether Ethereum can hold its own against Bitcoin, which is a pretty steep challenge right now. There are a lot of positive things on the horizon for Ethereum, but one should always be realistic. Then again, rationality is often hard to come by in the world of cryptocurrency.