Ethereum, a cryptocurrency invented by Vitalik Buterin, is more than just a currency. It is a genius platform that proposes using blockchain technology for more than just ledgers as its predecessor Bitcoin did in the past. Buterin and company figured out that blockchain technology could be used for applications, smart contracts, fundraising, and the list goes on and on. It has an incredible appeal both in that it is proposing a new "permanent" internet that has vastly superior security standards because it does not rely on the traditional data centers that corporations own. Data centers that are strategically placed around the world with armed guards that all have their own vulnerabilities. With the recent ransomware attacks and the fact that the #1 man on the FBI's most wanted list is a Russian hacker who stole 100 million from the banking system, Ethereum proposes not only an infinite number of potential applications, but a more secure platform on which this data circulates.
It seems like just yesterday when the cryptocurrency known as Ethereum was 40$. On a brisk spring afternoon, I was hiking along the Hudson river with a friend, marveling at the cliffs that surround New York City between the Tappan Zee Bridge and the George Washington Bridge on the Jersey side. Tallman mountain state park. She went on to tell me that the cryptocurrency revolution was about to take place, and that Id better put some money into Ethereum. It was forty bucks at the time. She told me sign up for Coinbase, and said "Im not going to tell you what to do with your money... do the research yourself". Everybody I had asked told me it was too risky. I am in my mid 30s. One thing I learned is that I am probably never going to ask anyone above the age of 45 for investment advice. Most wealthy people above 45 have insisted that I play it safe... but nobody ever got anything worth having without taking a chance. Throughout my life, I have had a penchant for riskier endeavors. That being said, I dont have the capital to "play it safe". I was actually in the middle of trying to figure out what kind of investing I could do that would bring me the quickest returns. I looked at penny stocks and determined that this is pure gambling. I would have a better chance at putting my life savings on sports gambling or blackjack. At least I know how these mechanisms work. Almost everybody I know told me the same thing about Ethereum. It is too risky. Why not gamble on a coin toss in a football game? Have you looked at penny stocks? Yeah. I saw the Wolf of Wall Street. That movie summed up the penny stock game quite nicely. Then the real research began...
Last December, Ethereum held a conference in the UK known as DevCon1. It was sponsored by Microsoft. Ethereum price was around 25-30$ at the time, I believe, possibly less. It was there that developers were able to show what the future of blockchain technology could offer. Then I learned about the alliance. Now known as the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, this conglomerate of major Fortune 500 companies such as JP Morgan, Microsoft, Intel, etc. got on board with the Ethereum platform. I spent two weeks reading every article I could. In that time, the price of an Ether nearly doubled. It sat at 72$. At this time, I decided that I had done enough research. I had found something that I saw as being highly undervalued. Bitcoin was at an all time high, and rising, and Ethereum to me seemed to offer many more applications with its programmable blockchain. Ethereum took the brilliant concept that Bitcoin used and applied it to just about everything.
People thought I was insane when I told everybody I knew to buy Ethers when it was 72$, then again at 120$, at 180$, people told me they had missed the boat and it was too expensive. How short sighted! For anyone who has read what Ethereum is, and knows about the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, it is seemingly obvious to me that this platform has an infinite number of applications, the smart contract being just one, and that these applications are all in their infancy. To this date, the most interesting articles have said the following: Toyota has created a self driving car based on Ethereum's blockchain network, Indonesia is using it to track food, the energy sector is using it for a variety of things, the United Nations is proposing accepting Ethereum as a viable currency much like how Japan has incorporated Bitcoin so that 100,000 vendors accept it (one can buy a plane ticket with bitcoin in Japan)... Ethereum has a huge advantage over Bitcoin in terms of being accepted by the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) based on its transparency and partnerships in the alliance, Fidelity Investments CEO Abigail Johnson has publicly stated that she loves Bitcoin, Ethereum, and blockchain, while revealing that they will not only add BTC, ETH, and Litecoin to their platform, but that they have been mining this whole time! More recently, I have read that Russian leader Vladamir Putin met Ethereum inventor Vitalik Buterin and was thrilled to hear about Ethereum's development. Singapore is testing their own cryptocurrency based on Ethereum's platform. The list goes on and on.
Presently, Ethereum sits at the highest it has ever been, at around 400$/ETH. This monumental rise has taken place in a very short period of time. People have stated that they have "missed the boat", but in my opinion, the boat hasn't even sailed yet. Bitcoin is so valuable because only 21 million will ever be in circulation as opposed to Ethereum's 90-something million. Ethereum is just getting off the ground. People thought Bitcoin was too high when it was 400$, and perhaps back then it seemed risky after it crashed from 1000$ to a couple hundred, but it now sits at almost 3000$/BTC, and in my opinion, has much less to offer. Bitcoin has been haunted by its nebulous origin while Ethereum has been transparent. We know who invented it, who is in the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, and everyday there is more and more news on recent developments. As far as I can see, the sky is the limit. My only regret is that I didn't buy more. This is the future of the internet, and the future is coming sooner than anyone could have anticipated. In the last few days, it has risen quite significantly (~100$). How high can the value of an Ether go? Only time will tell.
Ethereum is the reason why I am posting on Steemit here today. When I was researching clever ways to invest my hard earned blood, sweat, and tears, I came across the Steemit community... a wonderful place where people get rewarded for their participation in the community. A place that distributes the money it earns to those that participate, rather than all of the money going to developers. I have recently read an article about how much your facebook profile is worth. Facebook is a multi billion dollar company. It has billions of users and is able to collect an astounding amount of metadata on people. What they like, what is trending, etc. I have been a user for a long time. And while they continue to get richer and richer, I had finally come to the conclusion that Steemit has a much brighter future, offering a piece of the pie to everybody that uses it. Essentially, it is for it's users. That is why I also deemed Steem Power as a worthwhile investment, and it has paid off.
At this time, I would like to thank everybody in this community. If you are on Steemit, chances are you are one smart mofo. The people on here are seemingly more intelligent than other sites because it not only means that you are ahead of the curve in the sense that you heard about Steemit, but that you actually acted on what you had heard and acted on it. I have read many esoteric articles regarding blockchain, cryptocurrencies, as well as the clever introductions people have written about themselves. As I saw a bright future for Ethereum when it was 72$, I see the same bright future for the community of Steemit.