Ethereum ( ETH 2.47% ) has climbed more than 500% this year. This may look impressive, but Ethereum’s gains actually pale compared to those of other cryptocurrencies. For instance, fellow smart-contract platform Solana has soared 14,800% so far this year.
Ethereum probably won’t be among the biggest crypto winners of 2021, but next year, the situation may be completely different. Why? Because Ethereum is getting an upgrade.
It’s happening in a few stages. But the full package should be complete at some point in 2022. Now the question is: Should you buy this crypto player before the upgrade? Let’s take a closer look.
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From finance to gaming
First, a little background on Ethereum. The blockchain platform is the world’s second biggest — right after Bitcoin. It runs self-executing contracts known as smart contracts. This allows it to host decentralized applications in just about any area you can think of — from finance to gaming.
The coin used on the network is known as Ether. Ethereum also is a big player in the world of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). You can buy these on the network as proof of ownership of various items — including artwork.
Ethereum is an old player compared to some of the cryptos climbing up the performance charts recently. It’s been around since 2015. By comparison, popular meme-coin Shiba Inu launched five years later. This head start and the quality of Ethereum’s blockchain network have helped it stay ahead in terms of usage. Ethereum is the all-time leading blockchain in terms of NFT sales volume, according to CryptoSlam.
Ethereum probably sounds pretty good to you right now. So why the upgrade? The network has one main flaw — its transaction speed. Here’s an example of how it compares to others: While it processes about 30 transactions per second, smaller-rival Solana processes tens of thousands.
The upgrade will make slow speed a thing of the past. Ethereum will move from a proof-of-work to a…
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