Ethereum’s Enormous Facelift

As one of the 6 most valuable cryptos, Ethereum is making some serious waves in the crypto world, fast becoming more well-known as Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) grow in popularity and Ethereum is the place where the most NFTs are bought and sold. NFTs include digital art or other collectibles, mostly limited-edition items, that are bought and sold via an encrypted blockchain. This, coupled with the fact that cryptos have received huge institutional investment, celebrity endorsement and additions to mainstream financial platforms, means that cryptos like Ethereum are staking their claim. Let’s take a look at the news for crypto, particularly the second largest crypto in the world.

Rise of ETH

Ethereum has seen exponential growth over the last year and a half, solidifying its place in the market as the second biggest crypto and grabbing the attention of many crypto investors. Over the past year, Ethereum has grown by 900%, and a whopping 350% in 2021. The rapidly rising coin hit an all-time high of just over $4,000 earlier this year, to make Ethereum a serious competitor for Bitcoin when it comes to growth. Since then, along with others of the 6 most valuable cryptos, Ethereum’s price has taken a downturn. However, the light at the end of tunnel can now be seen as its price is back on the rise. Recently, Ethereum was up by more than 12% thanks to Elon Musk’s announcement that he now owns some of the cryptocurrency. Ethereum closed on a price of $2542.082 on the 31^st of July to finish the month on a high, and the versatile platform has something big up its sleeve to take it to the next level.

Ethereum gets a facelift

Ethereum’s upgrade has been the talk of the town for quite some time, and those who have been following the news for crypto platforms like Ethereum know the upgrade is due in early 2022—just a few short months away. Ethereum 2.0 is set to change the way transactions are verified, speed things up and make the platform much more efficient. However, in August, Ethereum is undergoing a major software upgrade that has been codenamed London. The London upgrade is expected to potentially boost Ethereum prices because it will be slowing down the pace of the Ether token growth. Katie Talati, vice president of research at crypto asset-management firm Arca, explained the main benefit of the London upgrade will be an overall better user experience and less failed transactions. August is set to be the start of a very interesting time for Ethereum, so keep up to date on the news for crypto platforms as Ethereum prices could be in for some big changes.

Ethereum goes green

There has been a tangible global shift towards to a greener earth, particularly over the last year and a half. So, as the 6 most valuable cryptos grow in popularity, the spotlight has shifted to the mining of coins, many of which have a negative impact on the environment. Tesla highlighted this even further when they changed their minds on their acceptance of Bitcoin as a payment method, due to the fact that fossil fuels are used to mine Bitcoin, and it is therefore not conducive to sustainability and a greener world. Similarly, a single transaction on Ethereum currently uses the same amount of electricity as the average household in the US would use in a week. This isn’t sustainable for the environment, so Ethereum’s upgrade has a specific focus on reducing the crypto’s carbon footprint by cutting energy usage by 99%. Not only is Ethereum 2.0 poised to be more efficient and scalable, but it’s also aiming to be the “greenest” crypto of them all.