Reasons Behind Ethereum's Price Rise

The price of Ethereum (ETH) has surged by 2400% year-to-date, from approximately $8 in the beginning of the year to beyond $200, pushing its market capitalization to around $18.5 billion. The rising price of Ethereum​ isn’t an exception. In fact, almost all cryptocurrencies are seeing an unprecedented rise in price.


Given distinct advantages such as security and energy efficiency, Ethereum will be switched from proof-of-work to a new consensus algorithm under development, called Casper based on proof-of-stake mechanism, sometime later in 2017, as per Ethereum Foundation. This means that anyone holding the core cryptocurrency (ether) can be a validator, and this may explain part of the demand for it. 

 Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) are growing in popularity, and some of the most successful firms are raising funds via a digital token built on the Ethereum platform. In early April, Blockchain​ Capital, a venture capital firm investing in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, successfully raised $10 million in a record six hours for its first digital liquid venture fund called Blockchain Capital III Digital Liquid Venture Fund, LP. The Singapore-registered fund raised capital via a digital token built on the Ethereum platform. Melonport is another example.