Cryptocurrency is one thing that has endured over the years. It has been called all sorts of things, from a fad to a bubble. But, one thing remains clear: crypto is changing our world in many ways. Every day, more people are turning to cryptocurrency as a means of investing in the future and attaining financial freedom.

As of May 2021, about 100 million people held ccryptocurrency. Although this number is an estimate, it is indicative of progress. This number is a huge improvement in 2012 when less than a million people held cryptos.

There are about 7000 coins on the crypto market today. Deciding on what coin or coins to buy can be a herculean task. If you have been thinking of buying Ethereum or wondering if it is a good investment, read this article to the end.

How did Ethereum start?

Ethereum was started in 2013 by a group of developers. The founding team, consisting of Vitalik Buterin, Anthonio Di Ioril, Charles Hoskinson, Mihai Alisie & Amir Chetrit, came together to create something new: decentralized infrastructure.

Previously, there was no decentralized platform where developers could be free to build anything, without the control of anyone. Two years later, Ethereum was officially launched but did not gather much buzz. It was around the crypto boom of 2017 that ethereum began to generate interest. At that time, it was a mere $54, while Bitcoin was already $1000 in April.

Innovation is the primary reason Ethereum is growing and hitting continuous all-time highs: it's the platform upon which concepts that will move the future, are being built upon.

Ethereum to the moon

Ethereum has never looked more attractive. On May 10, Ethereum made another massive move as it rallied past the $4,000 mark. This is not the first time in 30 days the world's second cryptocurrency would be hitting a new ATH. A week ago, the crypto hit the $3000 mark, barely two months after first touching $2,000.

Currently, Ethereum has a total market capitalization of $483.4 billion. It is not up to 50% of Bitcoin's market cap, but it is catching up with bitcoin pretty fast. Ethereum is now more valuable than Coca-Cola or JP Morgan Chase.

Difference between Ether and Ethereum

Ether and Ethereum are often used interchangeably, although they do not mean the same thing but are related terms. Ethereum is a platform, while Ether is its native coin. Ether is what is traded and bought on exchanges, not Ethereum.

Ether has been doing well because of the rapid implementation of Ethereum across different platforms. Yield farming, decentralized finance and lending protocols are just some of the technologies that run on the Ethereum blockchain. Unlike bitcoin, Ethereum gives developers a chance to build on it.

Why Ethereum is booming?

Presently, two major concepts are driving the Ethereum rally: DeFi and NFTs. For the uninitiated, DeFi stands for decentralized finance and is a concept that is revolutionizing finance in our world. Traditionally, the bulk of the world's money lies in the hands of the big financial players.

Things like: interest rates, lending, and printing of money are controlled by governments and big corporations. DeFi is possible on Ethereum because of smart contracts: contracts that are executed if and only if a particular condition or conditions are met.

On the other hand, NFTs (Non Fungible Tokens) are unique digital assets. They cannot be duplicated or exchanged for some other asset. Take NFTs as rare, exotic pieces of jewelry that can only be exchanged for money.

These tokens are changing the way creatives, artists and content creators are earning money from their works. For example, earlier this year, one of the biggest NFT sales was made; a art piece made by a digital artist, Beeple, was sold for $69m in Christie's auction house. NFTs can be structured in such a way that the creator continually earns from it, anywhere it is traded or used.

Where to buy Ether

Ether can be bought on almost all cryptocurrency exchanges. Since it is the second biggest cryptocurrency, it is very popular. One drawback of trading Ether is high gas fees. Gas fees are the fees miners charge for carrying out transactions on the blockchain. Any transaction involving Ethereum, and coins built on it like Link, DAO, Uniswap, and Aave, involves gas fees. The fees might get better with Ethereum 2.0, an upgrade that promises to deal with congestion on the network.

So far, Ether has proven to be a good investment. It is a coin with very strong fundamentals as it is a solid platform. To buy Ether, you have tocryptoexchange. Exchanges help you trade Ether, or swap other coins for it. The information in this article is not financial advice as you should do your own research, knowing fully well crypto is a volatile asset class.