Ethereum was introduced in 2015 as a blockchain-based and decentralized software platform. It is more than a cryptocurrency and was designed for people who want to build financial applications that are reliable and transparent as well. This is possible because Ethereum is also a programming language running on a blockchain.
Ether, Ethereum’s token, hit another all-time high on Thursday at $2,801.34. Many analysts link this increase in value with the European Investment Bank (EIB) issuing €100 million in bonds using Ethereum technology.
Last week, the crypto market experienced a major fall, coloring all charts red. Even though digital currencies stabilized after a couple of days, ether recovered much quicker than bitcoin to this market fall.
Ethereum is currently going through some considerable changes that will improve its operations. With faster transactions and less energy consumption, it will exceed Bitcoin even more. But implementing Ethereum 2.0 won’t be that easy apparently.
The network experienced a major bug on April 24, when validators of Prysm, its software client, weren’t able to get their block rewards.
On April 24, Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, gave a presentation about its restructuring following the switch to proof-of-stake. According to the plan, the network will be improved and upgraded in the next three to five years.
“We don’t want to do all the potentially dangerous things at the exact same time. You want to do the first one [Ethereum’s merge to PoS] and then the other so that developers can pay attention and focus.”
Vitalik Buterin
Even if the switch to PoS goes well, Ethereum is far from reaching the same level of protocol stability the Bitcoin network has. PoS is just the beginning and other changes will be needed.
So [this is] a big project. It does have quite a bit of complexity, but it has a lot of value [and] potential to do some important good for the ecosystem.”
Vitalik Buterin
