Ethereum (ETH) is by far the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization in the world, dominating around 17%, second only to Bitcoin in terms of market capitalization dominance. However, not when it comes to functionality.
You see, Ethereum differentiates itself due to a variety of reasons, and it has spawned numerous altcoins that run on its blockchain technology.
Ethereum is quite possibly the most ambitious project the cryptocurrency industry has seen, and its decentralized products as well as services in a wide range of use-cases, far beyond just handling money.
Ethereum tracks the changes as well as the potential changes that can occur. It implements what is known as smart contracts. Get enough of these smart contracts, and you have yourself a decentralized application or dApp.
In fact, the main goal of the Ethereum project is to become the global platform for decentralized applications that allows its users from all across the globe to write as well as run software that can be resistant to any form of censorship, downtimes or even fraud. It is fully decentralized and is an open-sourced blockchain system that runs through the usage of its native currency called Ether or ETH.
ETH is a platform for other cryptocurrencies and allows for the execution of decentralized smart contracts.
Who Are the Ethereum Founders?
Ethereum or ETH has been introduced for the very first time in 2013 by a whitepaper which was written by Vitalik Buterin. He, alongside the co-founders, secured funding for the project in what is known as an online public crowd sale. This sale occurred in 2014. The sale resulted in enough funding for the eventual launch of the blockchain on July 30th, 2015.
Vitalik Buterin authored the original white paper and worked on improving the platform for a long time, even to this day. Before this, he co-founded and wrote for Bitcoin Magazine, which is an online news website.
Alongside him was Gavin Woods, who coded the first implementation of Ethereum in the C++ programming language. He also proposed the now native programming language of Ethereum known as Solidity and became the first CTO of the Ethereum Foundation.
Then there's Anthony Di Lorio, as he wrote the project in the early stages of development, as well as Charles Hoskinson, who established the Swiss-based Ethereum Foundation alongside its legal framework. You also have Mihail Alise, who assisted in the start of the Ethereum Foundation, and Joseph Lubin, who funded Ethereum in its early days. Jeffery Wiicki also helped and became a co-founder due to his programming prowess. He was also working on MasterCoin when he discovered Ethereum. Finally, we have Amir Chetrit, who co-founded Ethereum. He stepped away in its early development stages.
How Does ETH Work?
Ether or ETH is the transactional token that is used by the Ethereum blockchain to facilitate any operation within the network. Keep in mind that the total number of tokens isn't capped and constantly changes according to the market demand.
There are contributors to the Ethereum blockchain that can build code into the contracts, which turns them into smart contracts. These transactions on the Ethereum network contain executable code. You can use Ethereum as a digital currency across all financial transactions or even use its investment or a store of value.
Here's how you can think about it: Ethereum can be used to create any smart contract, and these can represent digital assets known as Ethereum tokens. These tokens are the digital assets built on the Ethereum blockchain, and they benefit from the existing infrastructure, which strengthens the entirety of the ecosystem by driving the demand. They are a requirement when it comes to powering the entirety of the blockchain.
They can represent anything, and they can have a fixed supply, inflation rate, and a monetary policy. They can be used for paying to access the network or for decentralized governance.
Now, Ethereum originally used the proof-of-work (PoW) consensus algorithm in a similar way to Bitcoin; however, it slowly migrated to proof-of-stake (PoS) with the Ethereum 2.0 upgrade.
This upgrade started in December of 2020 where we noticed the launch of the Beacon Chain and where the ETH community supported this upgrade by staking 1 million ETH in the first week alone.
With this upgrade, users gained the opportunity to stake their tokens by sending their Ether into deposit contracts, which they had to do by following the instructions on the Launchpad. As such, Ethereum users now have to stake 32 Ether in order to become a validator on the new network.
6,270,402 ETH tokens had been deposited from the requirement of 524,288 ETH.
In terms of its usage, major banks and institutions have started to adopt Ethereum due to the fact that it is open-source. Furthermore, you also have entrepreneurs who used Ethereum in 2017 due to the fact that the platform could be used for fundraising through creating new cryptocurrencies and selling them to customers on a global scale in initial coin offerings or ICOs.
However, by far, one of the biggest usages of the Ethereum network in recent history has been due to the boom of decentralized finance (DeFi), where Ethereum was used to create protocols that replicate traditional financial services. These included projects such as MakerDAO, which ended up designing a protocol that decentralized the management of cryptocurrencies pegged to the U.S. dollar. You also have Yield Farming, as well as other DeFi innovations.
The main cryptocurrency that powers the Ethereum network is known as Ether, and a portion of it is mined in every block and then distributed to the miners, or at least this was the case before the switch to proof-of-stake (PoS). Note that the Ethereum price is volatile, but the network is heavily utilized due to its smart contract functionality, specifically in the cases of Ethereum smart contracts. Ethereum can execute smart contracts which are used for decentralized applications.
All of these dApps run on Ethereum's blockchain and have spawned waves to non fungible tokens. All of this comes at a gas price; however, you have no third-party interference, and as such, we have seen a lot of safe-haven assets and FIAT currencies support. In the crypto world, block rewards are important, and the Beacon Chain has seen a lot of support from a cryptocurrency called Ether. Once the turing complete occurs, we will see a better network, more evolved than Bitcoin, with enthusiastic developers. Ethereum will no longer use PoW like Bitcoin, and the network will be secured by Pos. This will lead to personalization of content by developers. The Ethereum price is dependent on the developers and their smart contract efforts.
The switch to Ethereum 2.0 has just started, and we will see a lot more innovation from this blockchain in the future.
Factors Influencing ETH Price
Ethereum's (ETH) price is subject to several factors significantly impacting its value in the market. Let's delve into some of these factors below:
Supply and demand: Like any asset, ETH price is determined by the balance between supply and demand in the market. When the demand for ETH surpasses its supply, the price tends to increase, and conversely, when the supply outweighs the demand, the price tends to decline.
Adoption and integration: The widespread adoption of Ethereum technology in mainstream industries and applications can increase the demand for ETH and drive up its price.
Competition: Ethereum faces competition from other cryptocurrencies, such as Cardano, Polkadot, and Solana. The performance of these competing cryptocurrencies can impact the demand for ETH and consequently affect its price.
Market volatility and uncertainty: The cryptocurrency market is notoriously volatile, with prices subject to sudden and significant fluctuations due to several factors, including global economic conditions, regulatory changes, and investor sentiment.
In the next section, we'll delve into each of these factors to gain a deeper understanding of their impact on the ETH price.
ETH Price History Analysis
To gain insights into the future of ETH price, we must analyze its price history. ETH price has experienced significant fluctuations over the years. Notably, its all-time high occurred in May 2021, when it briefly surpassed $4,900.
In terms of comparison with other major cryptocurrencies, Ethereum's price has been closely tied to that of Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. However, unlike Bitcoin, which is primarily used as a store of value and a means of payment, Ethereum has a broader range of use cases, including creating decentralized applications and smart contracts. This has led to more widespread adoption and demand for ETH, which has helped to support its price.
When comparing Ethereum to other major cryptocurrencies, it's evident that Ethereum's price has exhibited a close correlation with Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization. However, the two cryptocurrencies differ significantly in terms of utility and functionality. While Bitcoin primarily serves as a store of value and a medium of exchange, Ethereum has a broader scope of use cases. Its blockchain platform enables the creation and execution of decentralized applications (DApps) and smart contracts, contributing to its wider adoption and increased demand.
Significant events have impacted ETH's price throughout its history, including the DAO hack in 2016 and the ICO boom of 2017. The DAO hack caused a significant drop in ETH price, while the ICO boom saw a massive increase in demand for Ethereum-based tokens and drove the ETH price up.
Expert Opinions and Predictions
The future of ETH's price has been a subject of analysis and speculation among experts in the cryptocurrency industry. Some experts anticipate continued growth in Ethereum's market capitalization, with potential projections reaching $1 trillion or more in the upcoming years. Conversely, others adopt a more cautious approach due to the cryptocurrency market's inherent volatility and sudden and substantial fluctuations.
It's worth noting that predictions regarding ETH's future price are highly speculative and subject to multiple unpredictable factors. While expert opinions offer valuable insights, it's crucial to approach them with a grain of salt and view them as one of the numerous potential scenarios.
Where Can You Buy ETH?
The more smart contract usage we see, the higher the Ethereum price will rise. If you want to buy, sell or trade Ethereum (ETH), you can do so on exchanges such as CoinStats, Binance Futures, Upbit, CoinBene, Latoken, and DigiFinex.
Our step-by-step guide on how to buy Ethereum will help you get started!
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