Pros of Ethereum
- Broad acceptance and authenticity
- Supports smart contracts and DeFi projects
- Ether is not capped
- Fast transaction times
Cons of Ethereum
- The DAO Hack damaged its reputation
- ETH can be prone to volatility
History – Where did Ethereum begin?
Russian-Canadian programmer Vitalik Buterin unveiled a proposal for Ethereum in 2013 after serving as assistant to cryptographer Ian Goldberg at the University of Waterloo. He published a notable white paper on the potential benefits of Ethereum, and managed to secure a $100,000 grant from the Thiel fellowship, created by billionaire Peter Thiel. That allowed him to drop out of college and go to work full-time on Ethereum.
Development of the blockchain was crowdfunded in 2014 and the network went live on July 30, 2015, with 72 million ETH coins pre-mined. The idea was to create a decentralized mining network and software development platform rolled into one. Many commentators praised the technical innovations of Ethereum, but raised concerns about its security and scalability.
Yet Ethereum has gone on to become the world’s most actively used blockchain, with the ability to support smart contracts, DeFi (decentralized finance) apps, and a variety of tokens. It can be used in a variety of sectors.
Ether has also become the second-largest cryptocurrency in the world, behind only
Bitcoin trading. Anyone looking at
Litecoin trading
or
XRP trading
is likely to have checked out Ethereum trading first. Its value reached an all-time high of $1,392 in January 2018, but plummeted to just $83.03 by December that year. However, it rallied over the following few years and it was approaching all-time highs again by January 2021.
Development – How Ethereum became an established cryptocurrency
Anthony Di Iorio, Charles Hoskinson, Mihai Alisie and Amir Chetrit are all credited as working with Buterin to create the Ethereum blockchain. Joseph Lubin, Gavin Wood, and Jeffrey Wilcke were added in early 2014 as co-founders along with the original five. Formal development of the software began in early 2014 through a Swiss company, Ethereum Switzerland GmbH, and the non-profit Ethereum Foundation was also created.
Development was crowdfunded via an online public crowdsale in the summer of 2014. Participants could buy Ethereum using Bitcoin. The team unveiled a number of prototypes as part of a proof of concept series, ending with Olympic, which earned a public beta pre-release. A bug bounty of 25,000 ETH was put up for stress testing the limits of the blockchain.
It went live with the Frontier prototype in July 2015. There have been several protocol upgrades since the initial launch. Each one changes the underlying functionality and incentive structures of the Ethereum platform. It upgraded from Istanbul to Muir Glacier in January 2020. There was a fork caused by the DAO hack in 2016, which is explained in more detail in the security section of this Ethereum trading guide.
Statistics – All the facts you need to know about Ethereum trading
Anyone that wants to
buy crypto currency online
at cryptocurrency exchanges should be armed with all the facts and figures about Ether. The best Ethereum trading will provide stats about its daily price, total supply, daily transactions, daily token transfer, average block size and time, average gas limit, daily gas used, active and so on, as they change on a highly regular basis.
There is no cap on the number of ETH coins that can be mined, so in theory, people can continue to buy Ethereum from a steady, ongoing supply for centuries. That is in stark contrast to the likes of Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash, which are capped at 21 million coins apiece. By January 2021, the total circulating supply had reached 114 million. It operates on an x86-64, ARM platform, with more than 10,000 active hosts. It is written in Go, Rust, C#, C++, Java and Python and uses EVM 1 Bytecode software.
Security, Features and Uses – Is it safe to buy Ethereum?
Ethereum was created to allow users to “codify, decentralize, secure, and trade just about anything”. That can include voting, domain names, financial exchanges, crowdfunding, company governance, contracts and agreements of most kinds, intellectual property agreements, and even smart property thanks to hardware integration.
The Ethereum network allows developers to build and deploy decentralized apps, known as DApps. This allows companies and developers to use Ethereum in order to disrupt existing business models or create entirely new models. These DApps are all open-source, blockchain-based and operate on a peer-to-peer basis, so nobody is in control and they are supposed to be resistant to censorship.
Ether is the native coin used on the Ethereum blockchain. You often hear people saying that they want to buy Ethereum or get involved in Ethereum trading. What they really mean is buying and selling Ether (ETH). You can buy Ethereum at most sites that allow you to buy Ethereum, and use it as a cryptocurrency, just like Bitcoin. It has a number of real world uses: you can use Ether to buy goods and services, from pet supplies, pizza and jewelry to private jet hire, interior design and web hosting.
In 2016, a hacker exploited a flaw in a third-party project called The DAO and stole Ether worth $50 million. It sent ripples through the community, which eventually voted to hard fork the blockchain to reverse the theft. Ethereum Classic (ETC) continued as the original chain. The DAO scandal dented Ethereum’s reputation, as did a bug called Parity that caused 1 million ETH worth of damage, but it is now widely seen as a pretty secure network.
How to Trade – Buying and trading Ethereum
If you want to buy Ethereum, you will need to identify the best Ethereum trading sites. You must ensure that the exchange is supported in the United States, and that it accepts your preferred payment methods, such as credit cards, wire transfers or PayPal. You should read Ethereum trading reviews and gauge the reputation of each exchange, how well established it is and the level of transparency it offers. It should also take security seriously, impose two-factor authentication and provide reliable support for Ethereum trading.
CEX.io is an excellent all-round choice for American crypto enthusiasts that want to buy Ethereum and take up Ethereum trading. The user interface is simple and intuitive, and it allows you to buy ETH quickly. You can also enjoy low fees if you are comfortable using the site’s trading platform as opposed to the brokerage service.
Alternative options for Ethereum trading include Coinbase, CoinMama and Bitpanda, while Binance has launched Binance.us, which allows you to
buy Binance Coin,
buy Bitcoin Cash
and buy a wealth of other altcoins alongside Ether and Bitcoin. If you want to buy Ethereum at Binance’s US site, simply click “Sign Up Now”, enter an email address, password, accept the terms and conditions, and click “Create Account”.
You will have to move a puzzle piece to the right location to prove that you are not a robot, and then verify your email address and phone number. Once the account is set up, click “Buy Crypto” to trigger the trading box. It should be automatically set to a one-time purchase of BTC. You can change it to buy Ethereum by clicking on the right arrow and clicking ETH, which is the second option.
Click on “Payment Method” to add your card details or an alternative method, and then click “Buy ETH”. It will inform you of the fee you will be charged, and you can confirm the transaction. The ETH should arrive in your account rapidly when you buy Ethereum. You can then transfer it to a wallet of your choice. Hard wallets are normally the best option for security.
You can set up a recurring purchase by clicking on the box that reads “One-time purchase” and changing it to “Daily”, “Weekly”, “Every 1st and 15th” or “Monthly”. You can also switch from “Buy” to “Sell” or “Convert” at the top of the trading box. Many people that buy Ethereum like to convert it to Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash or other coins. Selling is very straightforward, as you can enter the amount you wish to sell, choose your payment method and confirm it.
The process is very similar at Ethereum trading sites like Coinbase and CEX.io. You should always beware Ethereum trading scams when you buy crypto online, and stick to sites that are large, popular, reputable and free of any security breaches, while also bearing in mind the fees they charge, the service they provide and the quality of the user interface.
Future Outlook – What is the future of Ethereum?
Ethereum hit headlines around the world after ETH enjoyed a strong bull run in 2020 and early 2021, when it started to test the all-time high previously set in January 2018. In 2020, the world began to comprehend the intrinsic value of Bitcoin, likening it to digital gold at a time when governments were printing large sums of fiat currency following the Covid-19 outbreak. In 2021, everyone started to understand Ethereum’s role as digital oil.
Ethereum has the potential to underwrite the world’s contracts. It is the gas that fuels secure digital contracts, which means it has great potential at a time when the global economy is increasingly becoming digitized. If its full potential is utilized, the Ethereum blockchain has the potential to upgrade entire economies.
An upgrade from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake can make Ethereum scale and run quicker, while using a lot less computational power. That will make Ethereum an even more compelling option for individuals, companies and governments alike. It is at the home to most DeFi activity, and adoption is increasing, which seems positive. So-called Ethereum killers have failed to usurp Ethereum, and its dominance has only increased.
Ether is the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum blockchain, and it should garner increasing attention from institutional investors and individual investors alike, which has the potential to drive the Ether price to new heights. No Ethereum price prediction is fool-proof, but there is every reason to think that ETH will increase in value as a result of the 2.0 upgrade and the benefits of staking.
Reputation and Customer Feedback – An insight into Ethereum reviews
As previously mentioned, Ethereum’s reputation took a bit of a pounding as a result of the DAO and Parity fiascos. However, it has displayed endurance and adaptability to overcome those challenges, and it is now widely considered to be the best blockchain platform. Smart contracts form the backbone of the Ethereum system, and many users are impressed with the transparency, speed and security on offer.
Ethereum 2.0 has also earned rave reviews. Contract deployment is much faster and more effective, and staking can make Ether a store of value. Onboarding is challenging for some users, but the community is welcoming, and it offers strong support to beginners. Developers like the friendly language to write the smart contracts, while casual users admire the vision, the mass adoption and the increasing range of use cases. Many people search for an Ether prediction as they try to figure out if it is a good investment, and many feel it has the potential to survive and thrive long into the future.
Conclusion – One of the most well-known cryptocurrencies around
Ethereum trading is likely to grow more popular in the years. It is imperative that you find a safe, legitimate and trustworthy Ethereum trading exchange that does not charge exorbitant trading and withdrawal fees. The key options at your disposal include Coinbase, Binance, CEX.io and CoinMama.
Each has its own strengths and weaknesses, so you should choose the exchange that is best suited to your needs. Coinbase is beginner-friendly and trusted, while Binance offers a large range of altcoins, high liquidity and more advanced charting, and CEX.io allows crypto staking along with margin trading. Figure out the sort of trading you are likely to conduct and choose the site that best caters to your needs.
