Bitcoin at $250,000? Analyst who called every cycle since 2017 says it's coming — here's his playbook
Previous cycle tops:
December 2017: ~$19,800
November 2021: ~$69,000
Next predicted top: Late 2025 — potentially between $200K and $300K
What's the timeline for Bitcoin to hit $250,000?
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Aggressive cycle (shorter timeframe):
Bitcoin peaks between $200K and $250K by late 2025, similar to 2017's pattern.
Bitcoin peaks similar to 2017's pattern. Extended cycle (longer runway):
Bitcoin pushes even higher, possibly near $300,000, by early 2026 if momentum stretches out gradually like the 2021 cycle.
Is the four-year Bitcoin cycle back in full swing?
What key indicators does Neuner watch to time the top?
1. Retail engagement
Increased YouTube crypto searches
Crypto apps rising in app store rankings
Rising Google Trends data for 'Bitcoin' and 'Altcoin'
2. Altcoin leverage ratio
When altcoins match or exceed Bitcoin in open interest, it's often a sign of 'peak euphoria'
In 2021, altcoin over-leverage marked the final stages of the bull run
3. Social sentiment & FOMO
The return of retail euphoria is often a sign the bull market is maturing
Meme coins, NFTs, and speculative tokens pump aggressively near cycle tops
What macroeconomic forces could push Bitcoin price even higher?
US Debt ceiling expansion: Over $4 trillion in new liquidity injected into the financial system
Over in new liquidity injected into the financial system Fed rate cuts expected: Dovish monetary policy could weaken the dollar and push investors toward scarce assets
Dovish monetary policy could weaken the dollar and push investors toward scarce assets Bitcoin ETF flows surging: Institutional demand has been steady since the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs in early 2024
The US Dollar Index (DXY) has dropped from 106 in early 2024 to 101.2 in July 2025, showing weakening strength—often bullish for Bitcoin.
Will altcoin season look different in this bull run?
Bitcoin – the foundation of the market
– the foundation of the market Institutional and DeFi coins – including Layer 1 platforms like Ethereum, Solana, and Sui, plus DEXs and lending protocols
– including Layer 1 platforms like Ethereum, Solana, and Sui, plus DEXs and lending protocols 'Zombie coins' – tokens with no real use case or adoption that won't recover
– tokens with no real use case or adoption that won't recover Memecoin casinos – high-risk plays for retail chasing quick 10x returns
What's in Ran Neer's 'conservative' crypto portfolio?
20% Bitcoin
25% crypto-related stocks like MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR), Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN), and Robinhood (NASDAQ:HOOD), which have outperformed many tokens
like MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR), Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN), and Robinhood (NASDAQ:HOOD), which have outperformed many tokens Heavy allocation to Layer 1 chains and decentralized exchanges, including platforms like Hyperliquid, Radium (which he believes has an 'easy 5x potential'), and Aerodrome on Coinbase's Base network
How does Neuner's forecast compare with other Bitcoin price predictions?
Source 2025 Price Target Comments Ran Neuner $250K (base), $300K (max) Based on cycle momentum, macro, and retail behavior Charles Edwards (Capriole) $250K (best-case) Using Bitcoin Energy Value + 2x valuation Finder.com Expert Panel Avg: $144,000
High: $250K Survey of 40+ fintech and crypto analysts Standard Chartered Bank $150K Driven by ETF demand and institutional inflows Cathie Wood (ARK Invest) $600K–$1M (by 2030) Long-term, innovation-driven projection
What's the key to surviving a crypto bull market?
The hares chase the hottest trends—AI tokens, new L1s, memecoins—and often show flashy gains early on
The tortoises stick to long-term strategies and projects with real value—they don't make as much noise, but they tend to keep more of their profits by the end of the cycle
Could Bitcoin really hit $250K—or even $300K—this cycle?
Watch macro signals (Fed moves, debt issuance, inflation)
(Fed moves, debt issuance, inflation) Track retail sentiment (YouTube trends, altcoin leverage)
(YouTube trends, altcoin leverage) Be prepared to exit early—don't try to time the exact top
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Bitcoin price prediction 2025 is turning heads after crypto expert Ran Neer—who's accurately called every crypto cycle since 2017—laid out his bold vision for the months ahead. With Bitcoin trading close to its all-time highs and major macro shifts in play, Neer believes we could be entering 'the most aggressive part of the bull market' right now. And if history repeats, Bitcoin could hit $200,000–$250,000 by the end of this year.Neer, the man behind the world's first televised crypto show and the founder of CryptoBanter, says the market is following a familiar four-year pattern. But this time, the cycle might not just be short and explosive—it could also last longer, with a more sustainable rally that pushes BTC toward $300,000. Here's a closer look at his blueprint and why he thinks this cycle could be different.Ran Neuner's entire thesis is built on the, which is largely based on Bitcoin's halving schedule. Each halving—when the block reward is cut in half—historically sparks a strong bull run about 12–18 months later.According to Neuner,of the current cycle, and Bitcoin could accelerate toward the $250,000 mark if macro and retail conditions align.Neuner outlines two potential scenarios:According to Neer, crypto markets have a tendency to follow a predictable rhythm: a four-year cycle. Past bull runs peaked in December 2017 and again in November 2021. If that pattern holds, we're on track for a 2024 peak—possibly by November.Neer says signs are already pointing to this: rising retail interest, more YouTube engagement, and altcoins starting to outperform Bitcoin. These, he explains, are the traditional markers of an approaching cycle top. But he isn't necessarily hoping for a quick climax. A more gradual and prolonged rally could send prices even higher—possibly up to $300,000.Instead of just price targets, Neuner uses behavioral and macro indicators to anticipate the market's peak:A major piece of Neer's prediction ties into broader economic changes. The U.S. recently approved a massive $4 trillion debt ceiling expansion. That means more money entering the system—money that could easily flow into risk assets like Bitcoin.Combine that with potential interest rate cuts and a Trump-led administration avoiding new tariffs, and you've got what Neer calls 'a very, very, very good scenario' for crypto. A weakening U.S. dollar would only add fuel to the fire as global investors shift their capital to digital assets that aren't tied to any one government.Neuner argues that macro conditions in 2025 areWhile Bitcoin grabs headlines, Neer warns that this altcoin cycle won't look like those of the past. There are now thousands of altcoins, making it impossible for all of them to rise together.Instead, he expects the market to break into three categories:In short, smart money will likely flow into a small group of solid projects, not across the board.Neer's investment approach has shifted over the years from high-risk bets to what he now calls a 'conservative' but high-upside strategy. His current portfolio looks like this:According to Neer, trading activity will always happen somewhere, and DEXs are the infrastructure that will benefit regardless of market trends.Ran Neuner isn't the only one calling for a massive Bitcoin move. Here's how his target stacks up:Beyond price predictions and portfolio picks, Neer emphasizes a deeper lesson: survival. In his 'tortoise vs hare' analogy, he contrasts two types of investors:'Crypto is not about how much money you make,' Neer says. 'It's about how much money you end up keeping.'With momentum building, the Bitcoin price prediction of $250,000 by the end of 2024 doesn't sound as far-fetched as it once did. Neer's blueprint combines historical patterns, on-chain signals, and macroeconomic shifts to build a compelling case for a massive BTC breakout.Neuner's track record—calling tops and bottoms in 2017, 2019, 2021, and 2022—gives weight to his current thesis. And with macro tailwinds, institutional demand, and historical cycle timing lining up,If you're planning to ride this potential wave, make sure you:Whether this cycle ends with a short spike or a long, drawn-out rally, one thing is clear: smart positioning and disciplined strategy will separate winners from the rest. And with Bitcoin possibly targeting $250K or more, the next few months could prove to be a defining moment for crypto investors.Ran Neer predicts Bitcoin could reach $250,000 or more by the end of 2024.He suggests Layer 1s like Solana and Ethereum, plus DEX tokens like Radium and Aerodrome.
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Economic Times
15 hours ago
- Economic Times
Kerala's culinary identity in crisis as major coconut crunch throws cooking out of gear
Synopsis When thieves start forming organised gangs to steal coconuts from trees, you know something has gone wrong with the commodity market. In Kerala, a coconut that once cost Rs 25 now commands Rs 77— an over 200% price jump that has turned the state's most essential ingredient into an object of desire, desperation and even crime. As coconut prices soar, Kerala's farmers form vigilante squads to protect the precious fruit, restaurants measure coconut oil like liquid gold and memes mock the madness. Once G Jayapal used to sleep peacefully at night. These days, the general secretary of the Kerala Hotel and Restaurant Association tosses and turns, haunted by visions of coconuts— not the kind you sip pina coladas from, but the humble brown orbs that have suddenly become more valuable than precious metals on India's spice coast.'My members are measuring coconut oil like it's liquid gold,' says Jayapal, whose federation represents nearly every eatery in Kerala, except the fancy restaurants in star hotels. 'We have gone from using coconut oil like water to rationing it drop by drop.'When thieves start forming organised gangs to steal coconuts from trees, you know something has gone wrong with the commodity market. In Kerala, a coconut that once cost Rs 25 now commands Rs 77— an over 200% price jump that has turned the state's most essential ingredient into an object of desire, desperation and even six months, retail prices of coconut oil have rocketed from Rs 200 a litre to about Rs 400 and Rs 500-750 in the case of premium brands — an increase that has left the state's food industry and consumers reeling. That's a bull run like Bitcoin, but unlike the abstract financial instrument, people need this stuff to eat. On a coast where coconut oil isn't just a cooking medium but cultural identity, the price explosion has created chaos that would be comedic if it weren't so economically devastating. Memes flood social media showing people fainting upon hearing coconut prices, while others joke about storing coconuts in bank lockers alongside jewellery and cash. The humour took a dark turn when dawn raids by coconut thieves became so common that farmers have formed vigilante committees to protect their groves. Coconut is central to Malayali life. Unlike in other Indian states where multiple cooking oils compete, Kerala's culinary identity revolves around the coconut palm. 'Look at a typical Kerala meal,' says Jayapal. 'Rice with sambar, fish curry, vegetable thoran, chicken fry, or even beef roast and parotta — nearly every dish uses coconut meat, coconut milk, or coconut oil.'The local saying 'enth thengayaanu' (what coconut)— an expression of exasperation that literally references coconuts—has never felt more his Ernakulam-based mill, which makes the Keradhara brand coconut oil, Venugopal PP stares at storage tanks that once held thousands of litres. His operation, like that of many local oil producers across Kerala, faces an existential threat. 'We used to get copra—dried coconut meat— for Rs 100-120 per kilo,' he says. 'Now it's Rs 280-300, when we can find it at all.'Venugopal needs 6-7 kg of copra to produce 1 litre of oil. At current prices, the raw material cost alone is Rs 1,620-1,960 per litre, before factoring in processing and labour charges and profit margins. Small wonder that premium, branded coconut oil now retails for Rs 770 per litre at supermarkets, if you can find it.'Only giants like Marico can survive this,' sighs Venugopal, referring to the consumer goods corporation behind the Parachute coconut oil. 'They buy in enormous bulk and maintain huge inventories that can weather crises like this. Many local producers are getting squeezed out of the traditional business.'The ripple effects cascade through Kerala's food ecosystem like a dropped coconut shattering on concrete. A medium-sized restaurant that once used 30 coconuts daily — some establishments use up to 100 — agonises over every kernel. Even small eateries cough up Rs 2,000 more every day, according to Jayapal, while larger establishments bleed Rs 5,000-6,000 crisis couldn't have come at a more brutal time. Already reeling from post-pandemic revenue drops and inflation squeezing customers' wallets, restaurants now face impossible arithmetic. Raise prices and they lose price-sensitive daily wage workers who depend on affordable meals. Keep prices stable and their profit margins will evaporate.'We are trapped,' sighs a restaurant owner in Thiruvananthapuram, who serves Rs 80 biryanis daily to office workers. 'If I increase prices, my customers will just walk 50 metres to the next restaurant. These are daily wage workers and office employees— they can't afford luxury. But I can't keep absorbing these costs either. Some days I wonder if I should just close down.'The desperation has forced creative adaptations. Some restaurants advertise 'limited coconut oil preparation' as a selling point to justify higher prices. Others have switched to cheaper oils for certain dishes, though food safety departments have started warning about the use of adulterated oils. A few establishments charge separately for coconut-based gravies—treating it like a premium add-on rather than a standard Vadakara, Kozhikode, seasoned copra trader Suresh Babu explains the supply-side nightmare from his modest trading office surrounded by empty warehouses. 'Domestic production has crashed,' he says. 'First, Indonesia saw its output decline, so they started buying from us. Then our own production started falling. This year everything converged.'Babu, who has traded copra for over two decades, has never seen anything like the current shortage. 'The good-quality copra we used to get has become impossible to source,' he says. He suspects some traders are exploiting the crisis. 'People are buying coconuts from here and selling them abroad at inflated prices. Some are making extra profit from the shortage.'Kerala's coconut production follows a seasonal rhythm: peak harvest from December to June, followed by high demand from July to December when festivals like Onam drive consumption. This year, when demand has peaked for the festival season, supply has hit rock reports indicate coconut production has dropped by more than 40% this year, with the Coconut Development Board noting a 50% decline over the past decade, with climate change identified as the primary K Surendran, chairman of Kerafed, Kerala's apex coconut cooperative, explains the temperature impact: 'If temperature goes above a certain range when coconuts are forming, it affects yield,' says Surendran, whose organisation handles 14,000 tonnes of Kerala's coconut oil production annually. 'Climate change is slowly affecting every commodity, but coconut got hit first and hardest.'Meanwhile, in Tamil Nadu's copra-producing regions near Coimbatore, unprecedented rains ruined quality copra for the first time in six decades. 'Proper copra requires moisture content below 6%, which is impossible when traditional drying areas face unexpected deluges,' says nature only tells part of the story. Decades of farmer neglect created conditions for this crisis. When coconut prices were Rs 20-25 for years, well below the minimum support price of Rs 34, says Surendran, many farmers abandoned proper tree care. Pest control declined, nutrient management stopped, and manjappu (yellowing disease) spread through neglected palms show the cumulative effects of neglect only after five-six years. 'We stopped treating coconut farming seriously,' says Surendran. 'For too long, average prices were too low to justify intensive care. The cumulative effect comes later.'Urbanisation also accelerated the decline. Kerala's coconut-growing area shrank from 10 lakh hectares to 7.5 lakh hectares in two decades, according to the Coconut Development Board. 'Young people prefer five-cent plots for modern homes to maintaining 1-acre ancestral compounds with coconut palms,' Surendran shortage has spawned unexpected consequences. Real estate prices of coconut farms have skyrocketed as investors from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka scout for agricultural land in Kerala. Suddenly, almost-abandoned coconut groves have become investment newspapers report multiple thefts of the suddenly precious fruit. In Palakkad's Elappully panchayat, one of Kerala's largest coconut-farming regions, at least 30 farmers complained of theft in a single month. Thieves strike at dawn, breaking locks and stealing up to 200 coconuts at a time, not just taking harvested coconuts but climbing trees to pluck fresh districts like Kozhikode and Malappuram, farmers have formed vigilante committees against these agricultural pirates, pooling resources for CCTV cameras and coordinated sur- veillance. Farmers around Kuttiady— dubbed the state's coconut capital— have formed action committees monitoring the markets are compounding Kerala's pain. Increased demand from China has reportedly led to significant coconut exports from Tamil Nadu, reducing the supply available for Kerala's domestic processing needs. Virgin coconut oil exports to healthconscious American and European consumers, who have embraced coconut oil as a superfood, compete with domestic produces less than 2% of global coconut oil by volume, according to Surendran, but international demand still affects local supermarket chains, managers stock coconut oil like a luxury good rather than an everyday commodity. Oil companies like Keradhara report sales dropping by 50% as consumers stretch usage by buying 500 ml instead of 1 litre, or switch to alternatives like rice bran oil which, they sigh, rob the food of its traditional crisis exposes Kerala's coconut dependency. The state consumes 3 lakh tonnes of India's annual production of 5.5 lakh tonnes of coconut oil— more than half the national output is devoured by just 3% of the country's crisis extends beyond home kitchens. At Thiruvananthapuram's Pazhavangadi Ganapathy Temple, where thousands of coconuts are offered daily, coconut offerings have reportedly dropped by nearly 30%. Many temples have posted notices announcing fee hikes for coconut-breaking managements struggle to keep lamps burning. Vendors are refusing to supply coconut oil at earlier contract prices, forcing temples to pay premium rates. The timing couldn't be worse — the Karkidaka Pooja at Sabarimala has begun and pilgrims typically carry multiple coconuts as offerings.'This commodity has become more precious than gold,' says Surendran, noting that coconut oil prices rose 110% in six months while gold managed barely 15%.Relief may come by October, when fresh harvest traditionally stabilises supply. The July production has already shown marginal improvement, and industry players expect prices to moderate when Onam festival demand in August subsides and the new crop then, Kerala remains trapped in its coconut conundrum. The bitter irony runs deep for a state whose very name derives from 'kera,' the Malayalam word for coconut. The land that literally means 'the place of coconuts' now finds itself rationing its namesake fruit, watching helplessly as global markets and climate chaos conspire against what once seemed as reliable as the reversal of fortunes isn't lost on people like Surendran as they survey empty storage facilities. 'Farmers are the only ones really happy,' he notes. After decades of selling coconuts for Rs 25 and struggling to make ends meet, they are finally getting Rs 77 per world has indeed turned on its head: Malayalis are struggling to afford parotta and beef roasted in coconut oil even as Americans liberally drizzle it over their salads. What coconut! The writer is a Kerala-based journalist (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this column are that of the writer. The facts and opinions expressed here do not reflect the views of
Time of India
16 hours ago
- Time of India
Kerala's culinary identity in crisis as major coconut crunch throws cooking out of gear
Once G Jayapal used to sleep peacefully at night. These days, the general secretary of the Kerala Hotel and Restaurant Association tosses and turns, haunted by visions of coconuts— not the kind you sip pina coladas from, but the humble brown orbs that have suddenly become more valuable than precious metals on India's spice coast. 'My members are measuring coconut oil like it's liquid gold,' says Jayapal, whose federation represents nearly every eatery in Kerala, except the fancy restaurants in star hotels. 'We have gone from using coconut oil like water to rationing it drop by drop.' Explore courses from Top Institutes in Please select course: Select a Course Category Digital Marketing Others Project Management Cybersecurity Public Policy others Degree PGDM healthcare Product Management Data Analytics Operations Management Data Science Management MCA Data Science CXO Finance Technology Design Thinking Leadership Healthcare MBA Artificial Intelligence Skills you'll gain: Digital Marketing Strategy Search Engine Optimization (SEO) & Content Marketing Social Media Marketing & Advertising Data Analytics & Measurement Duration: 24 Weeks Indian School of Business Professional Certificate Programme in Digital Marketing Starts on Jun 26, 2024 Get Details Skills you'll gain: Digital Marketing Strategies Customer Journey Mapping Paid Advertising Campaign Management Emerging Technologies in Digital Marketing Duration: 12 Weeks Indian School of Business Digital Marketing and Analytics Starts on May 14, 2024 Get Details When thieves start forming organised gangs to steal coconuts from trees, you know something has gone wrong with the commodity market. In Kerala, a coconut that once cost Rs 25 now commands Rs 77— an over 200% price jump that has turned the state's most essential ingredient into an object of desire, desperation and even crime. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Do you have a mouse? Desert Order Undo Within six months, retail prices of coconut oil have rocketed from Rs 200 a litre to about Rs 400 and Rs 500-750 in the case of premium brands — an increase that has left the state's food industry and consumers reeling. That's a bull run like Bitcoin, but unlike the abstract financial instrument, people need this stuff to eat. On a coast where coconut oil isn't just a cooking medium but cultural identity, the price explosion has created chaos that would be comedic if it weren't so economically devastating. Memes flood social media showing people fainting upon hearing coconut prices , while others joke about storing coconuts in bank lockers alongside jewellery and cash. The humour took a dark turn when dawn raids by coconut thieves became so common that farmers have formed vigilante committees to protect their groves. Live Events WHAT COCONUT! Coconut is central to Malayali life. Unlike in other Indian states where multiple cooking oils compete, Kerala's culinary identity revolves around the coconut palm. 'Look at a typical Kerala meal,' says Jayapal. 'Rice with sambar, fish curry, vegetable thoran, chicken fry, or even beef roast and parotta — nearly every dish uses coconut meat, coconut milk, or coconut oil.' The local saying 'enth thengayaanu' (what coconut)— an expression of exasperation that literally references coconuts—has never felt more appropriate. From his Ernakulam-based mill, which makes the Keradhara brand coconut oil, Venugopal PP stares at storage tanks that once held thousands of litres. His operation, like that of many local oil producers across Kerala, faces an existential threat. 'We used to get copra—dried coconut meat— for Rs 100-120 per kilo,' he says. 'Now it's Rs 280-300, when we can find it at all.' Venugopal needs 6-7 kg of copra to produce 1 litre of oil. At current prices, the raw material cost alone is Rs 1,620-1,960 per litre, before factoring in processing and labour charges and profit margins. Small wonder that premium, branded coconut oil now retails for Rs 770 per litre at supermarkets, if you can find it. 'Only giants like Marico can survive this,' sighs Venugopal, referring to the consumer goods corporation behind the Parachute coconut oil. 'They buy in enormous bulk and maintain huge inventories that can weather crises like this. Many local producers are getting squeezed out of the traditional business.' The ripple effects cascade through Kerala's food ecosystem like a dropped coconut shattering on concrete. A medium-sized restaurant that once used 30 coconuts daily — some establishments use up to 100 — agonises over every kernel. Even small eateries cough up Rs 2,000 more every day, according to Jayapal, while larger establishments bleed Rs 5,000-6,000 daily. The crisis couldn't have come at a more brutal time. Already reeling from post-pandemic revenue drops and inflation squeezing customers' wallets, restaurants now face impossible arithmetic. Raise prices and they lose price-sensitive daily wage workers who depend on affordable meals. Keep prices stable and their profit margins will evaporate. 'We are trapped,' sighs a restaurant owner in Thiruvananthapuram, who serves Rs 80 biryanis daily to office workers. 'If I increase prices, my customers will just walk 50 metres to the next restaurant. These are daily wage workers and office employees— they can't afford luxury. But I can't keep absorbing these costs either. Some days I wonder if I should just close down.' The desperation has forced creative adaptations. Some restaurants advertise 'limited coconut oil preparation' as a selling point to justify higher prices. Others have switched to cheaper oils for certain dishes, though food safety departments have started warning about the use of adulterated oils. A few establishments charge separately for coconut-based gravies—treating it like a premium add-on rather than a standard component. In Vadakara, Kozhikode, seasoned copra trader Suresh Babu explains the supply-side nightmare from his modest trading office surrounded by empty warehouses. 'Domestic production has crashed,' he says. 'First, Indonesia saw its output decline, so they started buying from us. Then our own production started falling. This year everything converged.' Babu, who has traded copra for over two decades, has never seen anything like the current shortage. 'The good-quality copra we used to get has become impossible to source,' he says. He suspects some traders are exploiting the crisis. 'People are buying coconuts from here and selling them abroad at inflated prices. Some are making extra profit from the shortage.' WHY ARE PRICES CLIMBING? Kerala's coconut production follows a seasonal rhythm: peak harvest from December to June, followed by high demand from July to December when festivals like Onam drive consumption. This year, when demand has peaked for the festival season, supply has hit rock bottom. Recent reports indicate coconut production has dropped by more than 40% this year, with the Coconut Development Board noting a 50% decline over the past decade, with climate change identified as the primary culprit. Saju K Surendran, chairman of Kerafed, Kerala's apex coconut cooperative, explains the temperature impact: 'If temperature goes above a certain range when coconuts are forming, it affects yield,' says Surendran, whose organisation handles 14,000 tonnes of Kerala's coconut oil production annually. 'Climate change is slowly affecting every commodity, but coconut got hit first and hardest.' Meanwhile, in Tamil Nadu's copra-producing regions near Coimbatore, unprecedented rains ruined quality copra for the first time in six decades. 'Proper copra requires moisture content below 6%, which is impossible when traditional drying areas face unexpected deluges,' says Surendran. But nature only tells part of the story. Decades of farmer neglect created conditions for this crisis. When coconut prices were Rs 20-25 for years, well below the minimum support price of Rs 34, says Surendran, many farmers abandoned proper tree care. Pest control declined, nutrient management stopped, and manjappu (yellowing disease) spread through neglected groves. Coconut palms show the cumulative effects of neglect only after five-six years. 'We stopped treating coconut farming seriously,' says Surendran. 'For too long, average prices were too low to justify intensive care. The cumulative effect comes later.' Urbanisation also accelerated the decline. Kerala's coconut-growing area shrank from 10 lakh hectares to 7.5 lakh hectares in two decades, according to the Coconut Development Board. 'Young people prefer five-cent plots for modern homes to maintaining 1-acre ancestral compounds with coconut palms,' Surendran observes. The shortage has spawned unexpected consequences. Real estate prices of coconut farms have skyrocketed as investors from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka scout for agricultural land in Kerala. Suddenly, almost-abandoned coconut groves have become investment properties. Local newspapers report multiple thefts of the suddenly precious fruit. In Palakkad's Elappully panchayat, one of Kerala's largest coconut-farming regions, at least 30 farmers complained of theft in a single month. Thieves strike at dawn, breaking locks and stealing up to 200 coconuts at a time, not just taking harvested coconuts but climbing trees to pluck fresh ones. In districts like Kozhikode and Malappuram, farmers have formed vigilante committees against these agricultural pirates, pooling resources for CCTV cameras and coordinated sur- veillance. Farmers around Kuttiady— dubbed the state's coconut capital— have formed action committees monitoring the fields. GLOBAL GLUGGING Global markets are compounding Kerala's pain. Increased demand from China has reportedly led to significant coconut exports from Tamil Nadu, reducing the supply available for Kerala's domestic processing needs. Virgin coconut oil exports to healthconscious American and European consumers, who have embraced coconut oil as a superfood, compete with domestic demand. Kerala produces less than 2% of global coconut oil by volume, according to Surendran, but international demand still affects local availability. At supermarket chains, managers stock coconut oil like a luxury good rather than an everyday commodity. Oil companies like Keradhara report sales dropping by 50% as consumers stretch usage by buying 500 ml instead of 1 litre, or switch to alternatives like rice bran oil which, they sigh, rob the food of its traditional flavour. The crisis exposes Kerala's coconut dependency. The state consumes 3 lakh tonnes of India's annual production of 5.5 lakh tonnes of coconut oil— more than half the national output is devoured by just 3% of the country's population. The crisis extends beyond home kitchens. At Thiruvananthapuram's Pazhavangadi Ganapathy Temple, where thousands of coconuts are offered daily, coconut offerings have reportedly dropped by nearly 30%. Many temples have posted notices announcing fee hikes for coconut-breaking rituals. Temple managements struggle to keep lamps burning. Vendors are refusing to supply coconut oil at earlier contract prices, forcing temples to pay premium rates. The timing couldn't be worse — the Karkidaka Pooja at Sabarimala has begun and pilgrims typically carry multiple coconuts as offerings. 'This commodity has become more precious than gold,' says Surendran, noting that coconut oil prices rose 110% in six months while gold managed barely 15%. Relief may come by October, when fresh harvest traditionally stabilises supply. The July production has already shown marginal improvement, and industry players expect prices to moderate when Onam festival demand in August subsides and the new crop arrives. Until then, Kerala remains trapped in its coconut conundrum. The bitter irony runs deep for a state whose very name derives from 'kera,' the Malayalam word for coconut. The land that literally means 'the place of coconuts' now finds itself rationing its namesake fruit, watching helplessly as global markets and climate chaos conspire against what once seemed as reliable as the monsoon. The reversal of fortunes isn't lost on people like Surendran as they survey empty storage facilities. 'Farmers are the only ones really happy,' he notes. After decades of selling coconuts for Rs 25 and struggling to make ends meet, they are finally getting Rs 77 per coconut. The world has indeed turned on its head: Malayalis are struggling to afford parotta and beef roasted in coconut oil even as Americans liberally drizzle it over their salads. What coconut! The writer is a Kerala-based journalist
Time of India
18 hours ago
- Time of India
Cryptocurrency Live News & Updates : Ethereum Exit Queue Surges, Investors Watch Closely
26 Jul 2025 | 11:35:12 PM IST Ethereum's exit queue has rapidly expanded, reaching over 680,000 ETH, signaling potential shifts in investor sentiment as many opt to unstake rather than hold. Recent developments in the cryptocurrency landscape highlight significant trends across various projects. Ethereum's exit queue has surged to a record high, with over 680,000 ETH waiting to be unstaked, raising questions about potential price movements. Meanwhile, Sky Protocol's token has seen a remarkable increase, driven by whale accumulation and strong fundamentals, with a total value locked exceeding $6.1 billion. In Pakistan, a youthful demographic is propelling Bitcoin adoption, with the country ranking among the top five globally in crypto wallets. The government is actively pursuing a regulatory framework for digital assets, including Bitcoin mining initiatives. Lastly, Pepeto, a new Ethereum-based memecoin, is gaining traction with a generous staking reward of 246% APY, attracting attention for its utility and community focus. As Ethereum approaches a critical price resistance level, the overall market sentiment remains cautiously optimistic, with institutional interest in ETFs and innovative projects like Sky and Pepeto shaping the future of cryptocurrency. Show more
