Crypto Rebound: The 1 Cryptocurrency I Would Buy Right Now

Last year was a tough year for cryptocurrency – and for those who held it. Amid economic uncertainty, investors fled assets seen as risky and sought safer bets. But things have been looking brighter for cryptocurrency since the start of 2023.

The global market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies has risen from around $800 billion by the end of 2022 to more than $1.1 trillion now. The general economic woes are not over, but even if full recovery takes some time, it is easy to see that some players in the crypto market still have good long-term prospects. Ethereum (ETH 1.71%) is a perfect example. And it’s the only cryptocurrency I would buy right now.

The top blockchain among developers

Ethereum is the world’s second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization Bitcoin. It is already a leader in many areas from decentralized applications (dApps) to the sale of non-fungible tokens (NFT). More than 5,000 developers are building applications on Ethereum, according to an Electric Capital report. That makes it the developers’ best blockchain among the thousands that exist. And Ethereum also takes the #1 spot when it comes to NFT sales, CryptoSlam data shows.

Last year, Ethereum underwent “The Merge”, an upgrade that made the blockchain even better. That’s because it switched the transaction validation method to proof-of-stake from proof-of-work. This cut Ethereum’s energy usage by more than 99%. It also meant that Ethereum holders were given the opportunity to earn passive income by staking their tokens.

A new upgrade – called Shanghai – set for March will enable validators to withdraw their assets and rewards. Until that time, staked assets must remain locked in the network. A flurry of withdrawals could result in some short-term downward pressure on Ethereum’s price. But over time, the move to enable withdrawals should attract more and more investors to stake their holdings. And that is a big positive.

Faster and cheaper transactions

But that’s not the end when it comes to upgrades. And what lies ahead could really drive growth for Ethereum. Blockchain aims to introduce sharding later this year. This involves dividing a database horizontally. As a result, the workload is spread out, alleviating network congestion. This should lead to faster and cheaper transactions.

This solves Ethereum’s two biggest problems: users often complain that it is both slow and expensive. With sharding, it can process an incredible 100,000 transactions per second. That is compared to around 30 today.

So Ethereum is a top player today in the world of cryptocurrency – but upcoming upgrades are likely to make it even better for users and investors alike.

Now let’s look at the price. Ethereum lost more than 67% last year as the entire crypto market plummeted. So far this year, the token’s price has risen by around 37%.

This is a great time to get into the Ethereum story. The cryptocurrency crashed to bargain levels in 2022 and is starting to show signs of recovery. At the same time, the upgrades should keep it in a leading position right now and in the long term. Finally, Ethereum’s price drop last year was not due to a problem with the cryptocurrency itself, but instead a reflection of investors’ preferences during this period for safer assets. All of this makes Ethereum a cryptocurrency I would rush out and buy today.