James Mullarney, host of the hugely popular Invest Answers podcast, has shared his predictions on when the bear market for Bitcoin and Ether will end.
In a YouTube video, the analyst said he believes the next BTC bull run could begin around the second half of 2023. His position is based on a number of well-considered reasons. These include the impending Bitcoin halving in 2024 and the duration of the current bear market.
According to Mullarney, BTC had a very down year in 2022. However, he argues that BTC does not “stay down forever”. Every technical indicator indicates that the price has bottomed out, he adds. Along with the massive anticipation of the 2024 halving event, Mullarney believes that the BTC price could soar in the second half of 2023.
Every single technical indicator you can look at says it's a bottom. And people are now educated. He knows what the halving means and he knows it has to be anticipated. So I believe there will be a bull run in Bitcoin at the end of 2023.
Meanwhile, Mullarney's predictions for ETH are even more optimistic. Lui said that the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization could start climbing as early as March 2023. The analyst ties his belief to the upcoming Ethereum blockchain upgrade in Shanghai, which will allow ETH stakes to be withdrawn.
According to the analyst, enabling withdrawals from Beacon Chain could give the Investors confidence and push them to aim for more in the long term. This will likely also attract institutions to stake ETH to earn 5% APY for the security of the Ethereum blockchain.
Nonetheless, Mullarney admits that the initial triggering of ETH staked withdrawals is likely to put selling pressure on the token. This is because many stakers who have been waiting a long time to withdraw their ETH and prizes will initially rush to withdraw and sell them.
Will ETH Exchange BTC in 2023?
Despite the bearish trend in the cryptocurrency market, BTC and ETH have continued to compete for market dominance. According to data from BTCTools, the top two tokens account for 39,92% and 18,46% respectively of the total $850,2 billion market cap of all cryptocurrencies.
However, the trend of dominance shows that ETH's market dominance has gained over that of BTC over the years. This fuels speculation that ETH could eventually overtake BTC in terms of market cap – a phenomenon that has been dubbed “flippening”.
Andrew Keys, venture capitalist and managing partner of DARMA Capital, has predicted that 2023 will be the year ETH overturns the dominance of BTC. He wrote that Bitcoin will face headwinds in 2023 due to its lack of day-to-day utility and growing ESG concerns. These factors will cause the token to slide, while the Ethereum update in Shanghai will push ETH towards market supremacy.
