What You Should Know About Ethereum
The crypto market is a significant part of our society
today, especially since it has entered a bull run cycle in 2020. Consequently,
the popularity of cryptocurrencies has prompted the rise of the number of
virtual currencies on the market.
This means that the crypto market continues to evolve
and expand, with over 70 million crypto users on the market. Ethereum is one of
the most popular cryptocurrencies on the market due to its market cap and
essential attributes. If you're looking to add Ethereum to your portfolio or
you want to invest in Ethereum-based crypto projects, in this article, we will
cover the main aspects of Ethereum and its blockchain.
What is Ethereum
ETH is currently one of the largest cryptocurrencies by
market cap on the crypto market behind Bitcoin. Currently, its market cap is
around 291.373 billion, which means that this is a stable cryptocurrency that
is deemed trustworthy by millions of users around the world.
It was initially created by Vitalik Buterin in 2015, and
one of his main purposes is to act as a store of value. The other more
prominent goal of the crypto project is to enable the development of any kind
of decentralized application - "dApps." This is an important step
towards financial decentralization. In other words, on top of the blockchain
technology, the users can create their own decentralized applications based on
smart contracts and obviously Etheirum's blockchain technology.
But it should be noted that even though most
applications are geared towards crypto users, it's an important innovation in
the financial sector in general because it allows for developers to create
crypto innovations and create open-source applications, which give greater
control to the users over their data. Some examples include EtherTweet, Augur,
MetMask, Leech, and other applications.
Otherwise, retail and institutional investors can
purchase and sell Ether and add Ethereum tokens to their portfolios. The
cryptocurrency is available on the most reputable exchange platforms.
Business Support
There is an option to accept Ether as a payment method
on your website if you run a business. A lot of businesses want to be involved
in the crypto revolution and, for this purpose, they accept crypto payments on
their platforms or in their stores.
Online casinos would be one example as they jumped on
the crypto bandwagon, and nowadays, you can find a lot of casino sites that
accept crypto payments. Actually, Ethereum casinos
are the next big thing because then they connect with the
ever-increasing pool of crypto users that want to use their Ethereum tokens to
make wagers online. In other words, crypto users can make a deposit with their
Ethereum funds on Ethereum casinos, access crypto bonuses, play their favorite
casino games, and more.
Otherwise, there are many famous businesses that accept
crypto transactions, and the number will probably continue to grow in the
future, including Bloomberg, Venmo, PayPal, Tesla, Home Depot, AT&T, and
many other brands.
The business support is important because it also
contributes to the price of Ethereum, as it increases the value of the currency
and also it makes it easier for crypto users to use their crypto funds in
various establishments.
Ethereum's Value
Because Ethereum is based on a decentralized,
peer-to-peer-based blockchain system, its value is influenced by the market demand and
supply. It's not controlled by any single institution or
entity, which means that the price can be volatile.
Another advantage of the blockchain network is that the
users get to directly send and receive ETH without the supervision and control
of a third party.
Moreover, the blockchain network grants anonymity to its
users. Plus, the processing time generally can take from 5 minutes to four
hours based on the traffic on the blockchain network, while the transaction
fees remain low. When it comes to the supply of Ether, it isn't predetermined
as it is with Bitcoin. This is an important aspect of the currency, which keeps
its inflation rate in check.
Otherwise, the current price is around $2,435.25, while
just two years ago, in January 2020, it was around $186. So, it's safe to say
that this bull market phase had
a tremendous impact on Ethereum, as well as the support from the business
sector.