The cryptocurrency markets are on fire once again.
The total value of all major cryptocurrencies just hit $126 billion.
Ten of these digital assets now have a $1 billion-plus market cap (total value of coins in circulation). Bitcoin accounts for $55 billion of the total. Ethereum accounts for $28 billion.
We’re at, or near, all-time highs in just about everything.
Not surprisingly, most of the questions I’ve been getting from friends and readers lately aren’t about bitcoin. Most people seem to grasp the basics of the original cryptocurrency at this point.
So today I’m going to talk about the second-largest cryptocurrency asset: Ethereum.
Ethereum 101
The crypto ticker for Ethereum is ETH. It’s tradable asset is called both “ether” and “Ethereum,” but don’t let that confuse you. They’re used interchangeably.
Technically, “Ethereum” refers to the whole network (platform). Ether is the currency that runs it – the “gas” for the computational engines.
Ethereum has its own coding language called Solidity. In it, Ethereum developers write “smart contracts.”
Ethereum was founded by 23-year-old Vitalik Buterin. Since going live in July 2015, Ethereum has taken off like a rocket. It has risen from less than $10 late last year to $298 today.
The most popular use of Ethereum today is through initial coin offerings (ICOs). An ICO is when a new cryptocurrency offers its coins for sale to the public. It’s also called a token or coin sale.
When you buy new coins in an ICO, it often happens on the Ethereum network. You buy the new currency using ether.
So to participate in ICOs, you usually have to buy ether on cryptocurrency exchanges. This creates sporadic demand for ether from ICO participants. However, the funds raised in an ICO will eventually be sold to pay for software development and other overhead expenses.
Smart Contracts
