Why Buy Ethereum
“Oh, if only I had invested in Bitcoin at the beginning.” That has been the lament of many investors since Bitcoin took off and spiked in 2017. Just think, if you’d only invested $100 in 2010 when Bitcoin was only $.09, you’d have millions of dollars right now. That idea has caused many investors to look to other digital currencies to make gains in the future.
Now we have over 2,000 digital currencies. And of those being traded, Ethereum is in the top three. So why invest in Ethereum? For that, let’s take a look at the purpose and technology behind Ethereum.
Ethereum was invented by Vitalik Buterin. Buterin was originally heavily involved with Bitcoin and blockchain technology. He even co-founded Bitcoin magazine. But as he became more immersed in the field, he noticed some shortcomings in the cryptocurrency and thought it could be better. His concept was to enable what became known as smart contracts, or open-source programs that could enforce and facilitate transactions. So building the blockchain would be more efficient. In fact, adding new blocks to the Ethereum blockchain is much faster than that of Bitcoin. Whereas a Bitcoin block takes around 20 to complete, Ethereum blocks can be appended in seconds.
The speed and efficiency of smart contracts and the Ethereum blockchain have made it attractive to large companies. Intel, Microsoft, and BP have all started using smart contracts to create new applications with advanced business models. As more and more companies adopt smart contracts for new uses, the decentralized Ethereum network will grow larger and the value of Ether will rise.
But if you want real proof of the legitimacy of a cryptocurrency, just consider the financial industry. Whereas the banking and finance industry has been skeptical about Bitcoin, they have come to see real value in blockchain technology. Especially in relation to smart contracts. Many big banks have started using the Ethereum model to suit their own purposes. Its speed and efficiency in processing payments, the stream-lined nature of programmed transactions, and real-time access to information it offers brings cost advantages and improved user experience. Citigroup, The Australian Securities Exchange, JP Morgan and Bank of America have all started implementation.
The overall brilliance of the Ethereum model has slowly but surely come to be understood and adopted by businesses of all kinds. Its implementation with new business models is moving forward in a way that Bitcoin can not. When it comes to digital assets like cryptocurrencies, Ether is arguably more stable because of these wide ranging applications. Whereas Bitcoin is merely a digital currency, Ethereum and Ether are commodities that are currently being utilized, and looks to remain so, by many industries for some time to come. All of this makes Ethereum an attractive commodity to hold and its growing use should stabilize its value moving forward.