One of the most traded cryptocurrencies reached the new level and gave rise to the new wave of interest.
Ethereum has demonstrated exponential growth in the beginning of the year: it entered 2018 with the price of about $755 and today it set its new all time high trading at $1045 at 14:59 UTC according to the data from CoinMarketCap.
Ethereum is one of the main bitcoin rivals. The market cap of $100,459 million makes it the third cryptocurrency by market capitalization. Bitcoin dominates the market owning over 32% of market cap, while the result of Ethereum is less ambitious but still impressive – over 13% of total market cap.
However, Ethereum spent long time being closer to bitcoin. The 20th of December was not a good day for the cryptocurrency – it lost its position while Ripple took the second place in the race of market capitalization. And even now the two cryptocurrencies seem to be engaged into tough rivalry.
Bitcoin is off the charts, but Ripple and Ethereum are may become intriguing competitors to watch. Ripple has also hit new all time high just a few hours ago. Still, the prices of these currencies definitely vary strongly: while Ethereum manages to surpass the $1000 mark, Ripple has to settle for $3.84. Still the breakthrough of both cryptocurrencies gives food for thought.
Bitcoin was the first technology that made blockchain mainstream. That is its advantage, and that may become a weak point. Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin said: “Ether can be a more programmable money. We conceive it as a crypto fuel because it powers these programs on the world computer.”
Lots of world leading companies support Ethereum, for example J.P.Morgan, Mastercard, Microsoft, Cisco, etc. However, most of the rivals of Etherum can demonstrate the same long lists of sponsors. And, as for the most cryptocurrencies, it is practically impossible to get the exact reason of Ethereum rise.
Lots of people all over the world dream of coming back to the beginning of 2017 and buying bitcoins. Right now they have an opportunity to avoid making the same mistake again. Some investors suppose that Ethereum may come close to the exponential growth of bitcoin and reach the $1500 mark in the first quarter of 2018. Some people demonstrate even more optimistic view on the future of the cryptocurrency. For example, Olaf Carlson-Wee, the CEO of hedge fund Polychain Capital, believes that the entire market capitalization of Ethereum will exceed that of Bitcoin by the end of this year.
Ethereum is definitely strengthening its positions. Such a rise attracts both investors and critics. Some experts say that Ethereum can break the bitcoin dominance, some do not trust in the cryptocurrency. However, Naeem Aslam, chief market strategist for ThinkMarkets in London, recently wrote the words that may become the motto of 2018: “Call it a bubble if you like, but can you really afford to stay out of cryptocurrencies?”
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