"Ethereum Super Cycle"? Bulls "paint a big pie," Wall Street is skeptical

The market's optimistic expectations for the so-called "super cycle" have encountered a reality shock, with Ethereum falling below the $4,000 mark. Despite institutions like BitMine, the largest holder of Ethereum, painting a rosy picture of widespread adoption of blockchain technology and AI-driven platforms on Wall Street, mainstream institutions remain cautious. Ethereum has continued to decline this week, dipping below $3,900 on Friday, and is currently trading at $3,942, with a 24-hour drop of over 3% and a weekly decline of more than 11%, putting the brakes on recent gains. This pullback comes amid heated discussions in the market about the concept of a "super cycle," highlighting the gap between bullish expectations and market realities. Citigroup has set a year-end target price for Ethereum at only $4,300, far below the historical high of $4,953 reached on August 24. In a research report released on Monday, Citigroup stated: The current price is above valuation and may be driven by recent buying pressure and excitement over use case prospects. Institutions like BitMine previously predicted that increased institutional capital and the proliferation of Web3 trading products could break the traditional four-year Bitcoin halving cycle theory, propelling digital assets into an unprecedented "super cycle." Wall Street Skeptical About "Embracing Blockchain" BitMine believes that "Wall Street's influx into blockchain" will be the primary catalyst for Ethereum's super cycle. As the world's largest corporate holder of Ethereum, the company anticipates that more institutional capital and trading products will make digital asset investment more widespread. This view is based on the trend of increasing adoption of blockchain technology on Wall Street. Supporters argue that as more traditional financial institutions enter the cryptocurrency space, the market will see an unprecedented scale of capital inflow. Over the past six months, the price of Ethereum has surged by 87.94%, trading at $3,942 at the time of writing. However, mainstream institutions on Wall Street express doubts about the sustainability of this rally. AI Agent Concept Sparks Divergence BitMine views the growing prevalence of autonomous AI protocols as the second potential catalyst for Ethereum's super cycle. The company believes that AI agents require a "neutral platform" like a public blockchain, which could bring more applications to Ethereum, the largest smart contract platform. Ben Horowitz, co-founder of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, stated: For AI to be truly valuable, it must be an economic participant. AI agents must be able to purchase items and obtain funding. If you are an AI, you cannot have a credit card. Cryptocurrency is like the economic network for AI. However, Nicolai Sondergaard, a research analyst at the crypto intelligence platform Nansen, expressed caution. He told Cointelegraph: "While many projects are still being built on Ethereum, that does not mean that if this prediction comes true, Ethereum will be the biggest or most obvious winner." Intensifying Competition Challenges Dominance Sondergaard pointed out that Virtuals and other "agent AI" projects have been built on Base, and there are a considerable number of projects on Solana, with some having their own chains. Therefore, the possibility of cross-chain competition is increasing, rather than a single chain dominating. AI agents are software programs designed to automate and execute specific tasks on behalf of users, and autonomous chain agents can interact with blockchain protocols to perform functions such as transactions, token exchanges, portfolio management, and interactions with decentralized finance platforms. Some large fintech companies are investing in the AI agent field. On September 2, PayPal Ventures led a Series A funding round for decentralized AI infrastructure provider Kite AI, raising $18 million, bringing its total funding to $33 million