Cryptocurrency Market Surpasses $2 Trillion as Ether Increases in Value
Published April 8, 2021 by Elana K
The cryptocurrency market surpassed $2 trillion in value on Monday, April 5 for the first time ever. It was given a boost by ether, the second-largest digital coin after bitcoin.
The cryptocurrency market surpassed $2 trillion in value on Monday, April 5 for the first time ever. It was given a boost by ether, the second-largest digital coin after bitcoin. Ether, powered by Ethereum, hit an all-time high of $2,151.25, a 180% year-on-year increase.
Some say that ether’s rise was fueled by Visa’s decision to accept cryptocurrency payments on the Ethereum blockchain. While Ethereum has hit a record-high, Bitcoin still accounts for over 50% of the crypto market capitalization, making it worth $1 trillion.
Ethereum Predictions
Billionaire Mark Cuban predicts that Ethereum will outshine Bitcoin when it finalizes the release of its 2.0 upgrade. Ethereum has been implementing its upgrade since last year, and it is designed to improve security and scalability. It will also move the network from the proof-of-work consensus algorithm to the proof-of-stake algorithm. Cuban believes that the latter algorithm will allow significantly higher multiple transactions to occur per second, which will create more opportunities on Ethereum.
Decentralized finance, DeFi, is also up and coming in Ethereum. DeFi aims to mimic traditional financial products like loans while bypassing banks.
Another benefit of Ethereum is that it can store computer codes, which allows users to run smart contracts on the network. These apps will be powered by ether, which will drive the demand for the cryptocurrency up.
