Last year turned to be very difficult for the second cryptocurrency, Ethereum cost was down to $85 for one coin, although the ETH rate reached $1,417 at its peak in January 2018. As of the time of writing this article, the Ethereum`s rate is $147, that means, the coin has slipped almost 10 times in a year. Many investors are wondering what will happen to the project in 2019, is it worth buying this asset now, or vice versa, its time has passed and ETH rate will only decrease in the future? In this article, we will try to understand this issue. But it should be remembered that everything you read here is only an assumption, not a guide to action. 1. Fundamental analysis As it was mentioned above, the rate of Ethereum to the dollar fell by almost 93%  for the year. Even for a short period of time, but the capitalization of Ethereum has decreased so much that the brainchild of Vitalik Buterin took 3rd place in the global ranking of CoinMarketCap. At a critical moment for Ethereum, the capitalization gap with Ripple was about $5 billion. Now ETH is in second place again and, as a fundamental analysis shows, this year should be much more promising than the previous one. The fundamental reasons for the growth of ETH rate in 2019 Ethereum blockchain is still the most technologically advanced and popular platform for launching new cryptocurrency projects. The upcoming hardfork “Constantinople”. It was scheduled for January 2019, but because of a critical error found, it was postponed for an unknown date at the last moment. Just recently, it became known that the upcoming, very important update will happen on February 28, 2019. Issue of Ethereum 2.0, which will include the long-awaited Casper. The transition of the network to another consensus of confirmation, namely on the Proof of Stake, as well as the support of sharding, will favorably affect the coin`s value. There is no final launch date yet, but it is rumored that this could happen in 2019. Based on the above information, it appears that, fundamentally, Ethereum is still a very valuable and important project for the entire cryptocurrency industry. There are quite important and serious changes, that are planned in the Ethereum network for the 2019 year. In case they are successfully implemented, the coin will reach a fundamentally new level. 2. Forecasts of famous analysts Let’s find out what the top industry experts think about the immediate prospects for the Ethereum coin. Bobby Ulleri. Quite a respected cryptocurrency analyst suggests that the blockchain technology will be quite actively used in international trade over time. According to his forecast, by the beginning of the next year (2020) the market capitalization of the cryptocurrency market will be estimated at 4.5 trillion dollars. Ulleri assumes that BTC and ETH will occupy a quarter of this entire market. He made his own calculation and according to his forecast, by 2020, the ETH rate will be equal to $11,375. Now, this sounds very fantastic, but as practice has shown, nothing is impossible for the cryptocurrency market. Tom Lee. This well-known financial analyst believes that in the near future, the price of ETH will begin to grow quite rapidly. His Ethereum forecast for 2019 is $1,900. As Thomas Lee claims, it is the current pessimistic mood of many investors will be the main reason for the rapid growth of this asset this year. Joe Raczynski. The founder of the company Joe Technologist believes that Ethereum in 2019 will reach $1,200. Raczynski is rather optimistic, as he believes that institutional investors will come to the cryptocurrency market this year. 3. Conclusion It is worth to note that Ethereum is a very important project for the entire cryptocurrency industry, and in almost 4 years of its existence, it has proved its usefulness and efficiency. Large corporations collaborate with Ethereum using its technology in their business. Of course, the project has its disadvantages, and a large team of developers is working hard to solve them. Several key updates are planned for 2019, which will allow this project to reach a new level of development, and top market experts predict a very good year. The answer to the question “To buy ETH now or not?” is different for everyone. You should understand that buying a cryptocurrency is a high-risk, but a potentially high-yield investment. Subscribe to The Coin Shark news in Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/coinshark/