Benzinga - Cryptocurrency Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) is rising in price on the heels of the latest update in the coin’s transition from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake. Here’s a look at the history of Ethereum and what a return to all-time highs could mean for investors.
What Happened: Ethereum was proposed via a white paper from co-founder Vitalik Buterin in 2014. The goal of Ethereum laid out by Buterin was for Ethereum to add scripting to make it easier for application development and to set up binding contracts.
Ethereum was officially launched on July 30, 2015. During its first calendar year, Ethereum traded between $0.42 and $1.39 with a starting price of around $0.74.
Over the years, Ethereum saw increased inclusion on cryptocurrency trading platforms like Coinbase.
Major events and updates to Ethereum, including the fork of Ethereum 2.0 and Ethereum Classic and the Ethereum Merge, have increased interest in the cryptocurrency and acted as catalysts for the valuation of ETH.
The boom of non-fungible tokens in 2021 helped increase interest in Ethereum, making the crypto a major player in the sector.
Ethereum hit an all-time high in November 2021 at the height of the recent crypto boom. The cryptocurrency market was hurt by the bankruptcies of several crypto-related companies in 2022 and increased calls for regulation.
A new update performed on April 12, 2023, is seeing Ethereum gain in value. The Shanghai update was deployed as part of Ethereum’s push to proof-of-stake, with the ability for validators to withdraw staked Ether.
On Thursday, April 13, Ethereum crossed the $2,000 level for the first time in eight months, showing signs of optimism for the cryptocurrency.
Related Link: How To Buy Ethereum
Investing $100 in Ethereum: Ethereum is trading at $1,995.21 at the time of writing. A $100 investment today could purchase .0501 ETH.
Ethereum hit its all-time high of $4,891.70 back on November 16, 2021. If Ethereum is able to regain those levels, the $100 investment today would be worth $245.07.
This represents a return of 145.1% from today’s hypothetical investment if the highs are reached again.
With the current price, Ethereum has gained significantly from the one-year low of $896.11 hit in June 2022. Ethereum is up over 60% year-to-date in 2023, but remains down over 30% from its one-year lows and down significantly from its all-time highs.
There is no guarantee that cryptocurrencies will return to levels seen last November. The article is an exercise to demonstrate how a small investment could add up over time if cryptocurrencies can bounce back.
Read Next: If You Invested $1,000 In Ethereum At Launch, Here's How Much You'd Have Today
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