If you invested $1,000 in Ethereum at launch, here’s how much you’d have today
Cryptocurrency Ethereum ETH/USD was launched in 2015 and has become the second most valuable in the crypto sector over time. Here’s a look at the history of Ethereum and how much an early investment is worth today.
What happened: Ethereum was proposed via a co-founder white paper Vitalik Buterin in 2014. Buterin launched the white paper with a goal of 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 the first calendar year, Ethereum traded between $0.42 and $1.39 with an initial price of around $0.74 according to SoFi. The first Ethereum transaction was made on August 7, 2015, according to Global Data.
One of the events that helped Ethereum gain momentum was the listing on the cryptocurrency platform Coinbase Global Inc. COIN in 2016. Ethereum became only the second cryptocurrency ever, after Bitcoin BTC/USDto be listed on the platform.
Over the years, there have been several major events and updates to Ethereum, including the fork of Ethereum 2.0 and Ethereum Classic ETC/USD.
Ethereum has maintained its position as one of the most valuable cryptocurrencies over the years, helped by the boom of non-fungible tokens in 2021. Many of the NFTs were built on the Ethereum blockchain. A record sale of a Beeple NFT created interest in NFTs and Ethereum.
While 2022 brought several bankruptcies of cryptocurrency companies and sent the price of Ethereum lower, it was also the year of another major event for Ethereum with the merger that happened in September.
The Ethereum merger took the cryptocurrency from being a proof of work, such as Bitcoin, to a proof of stake.
The latest update called the Shanghai Update is expected to be distributed on April 12, 2023. The update will do several things in the evolution of proof-of-stake, including allowing validators to withdraw their staked Ether.
Related Link: How to Buy Ethereum
Investment $1000 in Ethereum: Now the second most valuable cryptocurrency with a market cap of $230 billion, Ethereum is one of the most followed and talked about cryptocurrencies.
An investment in the cryptocurrency the year it was launched would have yielded a strong return for investors.
While it was more difficult to invest in Ethereum before it was included on major cryptocurrency exchanges, investors were able to get hold of the crypto after it was launched.
Based on an initial price of $0.74, an investor could have purchased 1351.35 ETH at the time of launch.
The $1,000 investment in Ethereum at launch would be worth $2,579,200.12 today based on a price of $1,908.61 at the time of writing.
At the high of $4,815 set in November 2021, the investment of $1,000 in Ethereum at the time of launch would be worth $6,506,750.25.
Ethereum has traded between $896.11 and $3,173.45 over the past 52 weeks. There is no guarantee that the cryptocurrency will return to annual or all-time highs.
While many missed out on investing in Ethereum in the early days, the exercise shows that sometimes investing a small amount in an idea with high conviction can have a huge payoff in the future.
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