While Ethereum price charts appear gloomy at first glance, a pattern from 2020 is forming that can trigger fresh rallies for ETH. Crypto analyst Carl Moon says the difference between Ethereum’s price and its realized price is a setup for a parabolic rally in the future.
Ethereum Price To Recapture $2,000 Within Days
Crypto expert Carl Moon says that Ethereum’s poor run of form is reaching its end after prices mirrored a historical pattern. According to Moon’s post on X, the Ethereum price currently trades far below its realized price of $2,000.
Realized price, also known as true cost basis, is the average price of circulating assets at their last on-chain transaction.
Moon notes that this is the first time that the Ethereum price has fallen below its realized price in nearly five years. A previous occurrence in early 2020 saw the Ethereum price slump from $283 to almost $100, far below its realized price.
The crypto analyst highlights the impressive rally that followed the slump below the realized price back in 2020. At the time, the ETH price stage a short-term recovery to surge past the $283 mark before going on to cross the $4K mark.
“Ethereum is below the realized price of $2,000. This is a rare event,” said Moon. “The last time this happened was in March 2020, when ETH dropped from $283 to $109. Notice how quickly ETH recovered.”
As ETH grapples with $1,500, Moon says ETH’s price is far below its realized prize of $2,000, a clear signal of bottoming behavior.
Weakening Demand For ETH Despite Cyclical Pattern
Crypto analyst Vasu Crypto has taken swipes at Ethereum over its weakening demand in recent months. The analyst notes while the underlying technology is solid, low demand has negatively affected its price economy.
Per Vasu, new blockchains like Solana, Sui, and layer 2 protocols are aping into Ethereum’s market share. Their speed and lower transaction cost have cast doubt over Ethereum becoming deflationary again.
“The supply is increasing, but there’s no strong demand coming,” said Vasu.
World Liberty Financial is selling off its ETH holdings at a loss, signaling a loss of institutional appetite for the ETH. Standard Chartered lowered their prediction for Ethereum price to $4,000 from $10,000 after a shoddy performance in Q1.
Furthermore, even grimmer predictions continue to hover around the Ethereum price. Bitcoin critic Peter Schiff predicts that an ETH drop below $1,000 is in play given cyclical behaviour from 2022.
For years, crypto in Africa was synonymous with Bitcoin (BTC). Today, that narrative has flipped, with companies like Yellow Card, a crypto exchange operating in Africa, clearly reflecting this shift.
In an exclusive with BeInCrypto, Yellow Card co-founder and CEO Chris Maurice reveals how it is building a pan-African stablecoin network to leapfrog traditional finance (TradFi). This is amid growing regulatory clarity, collapsing fiat systems, and a remittance revolution.
Stablecoins Are Transforming Africa’s Financial Scene
The pan-African exchange operates in over 20 markets, and Maurice says stablecoins now account for over 99% of its transactions. This makes Yellow Card a bellwether for what might be the most transformative trend in emerging markets finance.
“When we first launched Yellow Card in 2019, people were exclusively buying Bitcoin. Now, the most popular asset is Tether (USDT),” Maurice told BeInCrypto.
As it happened, necessity, not speculation, has driven this evolution. Africa leads the world in peer-to-peer (P2P) crypto trading volume. However, unlike global crypto hubs chasing volatile returns, Africans are choosing stablecoins out of financial survival.
Local currencies are eroding under inflationary pressure in countries like Nigeria, which ranks second globally in crypto adoption (per Chainalysis). Stablecoins offer a reliable store of value and seamless means of cross-border payments.
This is especially critical in a continent with $48 billion annual remittances and persistent banking limitations.
“Stablecoins are solving practical financial services challenges in Africa. People aren’t in love with the tech. They need faster, cheaper ways to move money to survive and thrive,” Maurice added.
Infrastructure Built for the Unbanked
Yellow Card has gone beyond trading services. Its infrastructure integrates mobile money systems (like M-Pesa in Kenya) and local fiat currencies such as the Nigerian naira and Ghanaian cedi. According to the firm’s CEO, this helps onboard users without bank accounts.
By managing compliance, currency exchange, and payments internally, the firm enables businesses to operate without battling unreliable local rails.
“Our mission is to let companies invest, hire, and grow in emerging markets without needing to stress over infrastructure. We’ve built the back office [meaning] cybersecurity, AML, [and] data protection, so they can focus on growth,” he articulated.
The Regulatory Dam Has Broken
Maurice also observed that African regulators kept crypto in limbo for years. In Yellow Card’s view, 2024 marked a tipping point.
“There is regulatory momentum in Africa that is only accelerating. The dam has broken,” he said.
South Africa now classifies crypto as a financial product. It has licensed major exchanges like Luno and VALR. Countries in the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC), Mauritius, Botswana, and Namibia have followed suit with licensing regimes.
Meanwhile, regulatory incubators are emerging in Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Tanzania. Against this backdrop, Maurice says Yellow Card has actively helped draft legislation in Kenya and supports crypto frameworks in Morocco.
Fighting the Informal Market
Still, challenges remain. In countries like Ethiopia, Cameroon, and Morocco, outright bans have driven users underground into high-risk P2P networks. Yellow Card pushes for frameworks that level the playing field for compliant players.
“We face a lot of competition from companies that don’t maintain high AML standards…A level playing field is all we seek,” he said.
With $85 million in venture funding, Yellow Card is deploying capital into compliance and partnerships. With this, the company positions itself as the go-to infrastructure provider for global firms looking to tap African markets.
From Africa to Emerging Markets Everywhere
Cross-border payments are perhaps Yellow Card’s most powerful use case. The company’s co-founder says its stablecoin-powered rails are helping businesses reduce working capital needs, expand to new regions, and hire faster.
“We’ve had clients tell us we’ve enabled them to scale into new countries and reduce their costs dramatically. That’s real economic impact,” said Maurice.
The company is not stopping at Africa. Its infrastructure extends into other frontier markets, with a wave of strategic partnerships expected in 2025.
“Yellow Card has built a series of easy buttons for developed world companies to expand into complicated, high-growth markets,” he noted.
“Stablecoins are already a standard part of the financial infrastructure in Africa. CFOs and treasurers in traditional industries are now routinely using them to store and transfer value,” he added.
Africa’s crypto market is still small compared to global giants. Nevertheless, as the world shifts from speculation to utility, the continent’s fragmented financial systems may offer a glimpse into crypto’s most impactful use case: economic empowerment. For Yellow Card, the mission is clear and increasingly urgent.
“We’ve built a company for longevity and scale. Crypto adoption in Africa is stablecoin adoption,” Maurice concluded.
The crypto market continues to face a sustained period of capital flight. According to the latest CoinShares report, digital asset investment products experienced a fifth week of outflows.
It comes amid continued bearish sentiment, with Bitcoin (BTC) bearing the worst as seen in its price, which remains well below the $90,000 threshold.
Crypto Outflows Surge to Nearly $1.7 Billion
The report indicates that total crypto outflows reached $1.687 billion, bringing cumulative losses over this negative streak to $6.4 billion. This also marks the 17th straight day of outflows, the longest unbroken period of capital withdrawals since 2015.
Despite the sustained downturn, year-to-date (YTD) inflows remain positive at $912 million. However, the latest market correction and consistent investor withdrawals have resulted in a $48 billion decline in total assets under management (AuM) across digital asset investment products.
Per the report, the US remains the epicenter of the ongoing crypto outflows, accounting for $1.16 billion in outflows. This represents approximately 93% of all outflows during this negative streak. In contrast, Germany experienced a modest inflow of $8 million, indicating regional variations in investor sentiment.
Bitcoin continues to withstand the worst of investor withdrawals, with an additional $978 million in outflows over the past week, bringing its five-week total to $5.4 billion. Meanwhile, short-Bitcoin positions also saw $3.6 million in outflows, indicating a general decrease in bearish bets against the pioneer crypto.
While most digital assets have declined, XRP continues to attract investment. It recorded an additional $1.8 million in inflows, standing out as one of the few assets seeing positive momentum.
One of the most striking developments during this market downturn was the Binance exchange’s near wipeout of assets under management. A key seed investor’s exit drained almost all of Binance’s AuM, leaving the exchange with just $15 million in remaining AuM.
Meanwhile, this sustained sell-off follows a weeks-long pattern of negative sentiment. The previous week, crypto outflows hit $876 million, with US investors leading the charge in market liquidations.
Before that, outflows had already neared $3 billion, driven by weak investor sentiment and rising market fears.
The persistent crypto outflows and declining AuM figures suggest that confidence in the crypto sector is yet to recover. However, pockets of resilience—such as XRP’s inflows and minor gains in Germany, indicate that investor appetite has not vanished entirely.
