Analysts from JPMorgan Chase argue that the price of ether (ETH) is far too high, based on metrics like network activity and the number of unique addresses.

JPMorgan Chase analysts believe that ether should be trading at a price of $1,000—over 70% lower than its current price. According to the analysts, this inaccurate fair value is due to increased institutional investments and network improvements. They state that these factors have led to a price increase, but the current price is not reflective of actual network usage.

The analysts, led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, said that network activity and the number of active addresses were not commensurate with ETH prices. Ether’s current price is just above $3,900, slightly lower than its May 10 all-time high of approximately $4,200.

At its all-time high, Ethereum became more valuable than Visa and JPMorgan Chase itself.

It’s also worth remembering that crypto prices rarely operate with any hard and fast rules. Ether’s activity may be lower than wished for, but the ecosystem is doing as well as ever. While many in the crypto community appear fairly optimistic about the direction the network is going, there are many emerging rivals that are faster and cheaper. Binance Smart Chain and Fantom have become two significant competitors with Ethereum.

Ethereum hype may be justified

While the analysts may have a point regarding network activity, the price does have some justification in the way of investments and network upgrades. ETH 2.0 is expected to make the network much more usable, cheaper, faster, and secure. The proof-of-stake upgrade has been hotly anticipated, and all the upcoming changes will likely have a significant impact on performance.

Several institutions have also been doubling down on Ethereum. Recently, VanEck even submitted a filing for an ETH ETF.

But the underlying uses and potential in Ethereum come from the niches of decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFT). Both have proven to be incredibly popular over the past year. DeFi has given users a way to the most out of their assets with lending and borrowing features.

NFTs, meanwhile, have roped in major brands and companies. Nike, Reebok, and various celebrities have released NFTs based on their work. This has arguably been one of the biggest pulls for the mainstream audience.