The crypto balloon is rising again, with new player Ethereum hanging on tight

By HAL WILLIAMS

BITCOIN’S value will more than double by the end of 2018. Buy, buy, buy! But, um, not Bitcoin.

EthereumAnd 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”.