By HAL WILLIAMS
BITCOIN’S value will more than double by the end of 2018. Buy, buy, buy! But, um, not Bitcoin.
And hey, relax your shoulders: while this information comes to you from the mugs who purchased Litecoin at its absolute, probably-never-to-be-seen-again zenith (the BV investment team, aka pictures editor Richard Thomas and myself) the source of this particular tip is more reliable: Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, speaking via Fortune magazine.
Ohanian estimates Bitcoin will climb back up to its all-time high of $20,000 by the end of the year, and here’s his punchline prediction: Ethereum will reach 21 times its current value during the same period.
This means that downtrodden step-sibling Ethereum will rise from the $700 mark to a whopping $15,000-ish by December ($690 at the time of writing to $14,700 if you want to get technical and precise, but remember: your mileage may vary).
So, with that caveat in mind, get your wallets out. Developers have used Ethereum to create applications including a blockchain-based virtual-cat breeding game (I’m not making this up) and major firms, including banking behemoth JP Morgan, have been testing technology based on Ethereum.
It’s the second-largest cryptocurrency by market value, and it’s up by several percentage points in the past few days. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin believes the currency is poised for more gains, as companies develop decentralised applications using Ethereum’s basic platform.
With a vested interest in Ethereum, the emerging ecosystem (remember that term from the Gibfin Conference?) stands a better chance against rival blockchains.
An Ethereum Community Fund (ECF) has been created to free-up communication between the various Ethereum blockchain projects – and to theoretically create a platform to finance selected projects.
Ethereum “has grown beyond my expectations”, Buterin has been quoted as saying, “but the work is clearly not finished”.
