https://www.theblock.co/post/267539/jpmorgan-ether-outperform-bitcoin-2024"JPMorgan expects ether to outperform bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in 2024, although the bank remains generally "cautious" about crypto markets in the coming year.
"We believe that next year Ethereum will re-assert itself and recapture market share within the crypto ecosystem," JPMorgan analysts led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou wrote in a note on Wednesday. "The main catalyst is the EIP-4844 upgrade or Protodanksharding, which is expected to take place during the
first half of 2024. We believe that this upgrade will likely prove a bigger step towards improving Ethereum network activity, thus helping Ethereum to outperform."
Protodanksharding is an initial step toward the full implementation of Danksharding, a more efficient form of sharding for Ethereum. Unlike the originally planned sharding technique, Danksharding avoids the complex process of splitting Ethereum into multiple shard chains. Instead, it introduces data blobs, temporary data packets attached to blocks, capable of holding more data than blocks but not permanently stored or accessed by the Ethereum virtual machine.
The upgrade is particularly beneficial for Layer 2 networks like Arbitrum and Optimism, JPMorgan analysts reiterated, as it provides an additional temporary data space to increase network throughput and reduce transaction fees for Layer 2 networks on Ethereum. In essence, data blobs enhance the efficiency of Layer 2 networks without altering the Ethereum block size."