With a market cap exceeding $220 billion at the time of writing, Ethereum is the second-largest cryptocurrency in the world. Millions of people own Ether, and many more are interested in purchasing it. But, how do you buy Ethereum for yourself?
What Is Ethereum?
Ethereum itself isn’t actually a cryptocurrency. Rather, Ethereum is the name given to the open-source blockchain, with Ether serving as a native cryptocurrency on the network. While this is the case, Ether and Ethereum are synonymous and are often used interchangeably.
The Ether cryptocurrency is second only to Bitcoin, seeing great success since its release in 2014. The ICO (initial coin offering) for ETH valued a single Ether token at $0.31 US, but this has risen to more than $4,000 at its peak. Very few cryptocurrencies have generated enough public confidence to raise their value like this.
Understanding Cryptocurrency Purchasing Risks
Seeing the value of Ethereum tokens skyrocket over a few short years makes this cryptocurrency look like a promising option for investors. In reality, though, putting money into cryptocurrencies like this is risky, which can be seen when you look deeper into Ether’s history.
While a value of $1,800 US per token is very high, it isn’t Ethereum’s peak. Back in November 2021, Ether peaked at around $4,400, but its value dropped dramatically in the weeks and months that followed. This means that anyone who invested in Ether between 2020 and 2021 stood to lose a lot of money if they didn’t sell at the right time.
A lot of investments come with risks like this, but cryptocurrencies are uniquely volatile. It only takes one tweet from a meme-obsessed billionaire to send the value of crypto rising or tumbling, and this is just one example of the external factors that influence currencies like Ether. You don’t have to ignore the crypto space altogether to avoid risks like these; you have to spend some time learning about cryptocurrencies…
