When many think of blockchain technology or cryptocurrency, Bitcoin immediately comes to mind. And it’s easy to see why: Bitcoin is the largest and most successful form of cryptocurrency. But while Bitcoin is immensely successful at the moment, another form of cryptocurrency has steadily been rising in value over the past several years: Ethereum.
The ETH to USD exchange rate as of August 6, 2024, is that one ETH is equivalent to 2,458.72 USD, marking a 1.71% increase against the exchange rate of USD as markets opened that day.
How Does it Work?
Ethereum is a cryptocurrency that acts as an open-source public service. It utilizes blockchain technology to allow for secure trading without the involvement of third-party oversight. Ethereum is available in two forms: externally owned accounts (controlled by private keys influenced by human users) and contract accounts.
People are also reading…
Ethereum is also specifically designed with data allocated for developers to deploy multiple forms of decentralized apps. While Bitcoin remains the most popular cryptocurrency, Ethereum’s expeditious growth has taken the industry by storm.
The History of Ethereum
Vitalik Buterin co-founded Ethereum. In 2014, Buterin and his co-founders launched a crowdsourcing campaign that sold Ether (Ethereum tokens) to raise enough funds and awareness about the product to make their vision a reality. In the process, they ultimately raised more than $18 million. The first genuinely official release of Ethereum proper, Frontier, was launched in 2015.
While Ethereum’s growth has been anything but stable or incidental, it has shown significant capability for growth. While the fluctuations in its value may occasionally be quite extreme, the value of Ethereum rose an astounding 10,000% in 2017.
How Ethereum Differs From Bitcoin
While Ethereum and Bitcoin are both forms of cryptocurrency, there are some substantial differences. Bitcoin trades in cryptocurrency, while Ethereum has several different trading options, including cryptocurrency, smart contracts, and the Ethereum Virtual Machine.
These different trading options are all based on different security protocols, which are designed to keep the trading safe and secure. Where Bitcoin utilizes a “proof of work” system, Ethereum uses a “proof of stake.” Bitcoin allows only permissionless transactions; Ethereum allows both permissioned and permissionless transactions.
Mining Is Faster Than You Might Expect
Ethereum’s average block time is also substantially less than that of Bitcoin. According to an analysis by a blockchain company, The amount of time block generation time takes varies. For Bitcoin, the estimated time is about 10 minutes, and for Ethereum it’s only about 12 seconds.
This translates into more block confirmations, which allows Ethereum’s miners to complete more blocks and receive more Ether than Bitcoin users can in the same amount of time.
In short, while Ethereum may not have the brand ubiquity or cultural prominence of Bitcoin, it is still a more worthwhile cryptocurrency that many investors are observing as its value evolves.
This information is intended for educational purposes only and is not to be used as investment advice. Investing involves risk and your investment may lose value. Past performance gives no indication of future results. These statements do not constitute and cannot replace investment or financial advice.
Lee Enterprises newsroom and editorial were not involved in the creation of this content.
#ethereum #current #market
Want to see more news?
