Ethereum, the second biggest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalisation, yet, branch away from this and you should see that actually, Ethereum is arguable the biggest blockchain operation in the world. Notoriously, Bitcoin is huge, Ethereum though, behind the scenes is really stealing the show, Consensys have recently reported some statistics that prove just that. In short, Ethereum is a powerhouse, we need to start appreciating it. You can see the full Consensys report for yourself, here- https://media.consensys.net/the-state-of-the-ethereum-network-949332cb6895 Ethereum has seen growth since 2017. It has been around a little longer, since 2015 to be exact however, in line with the rising popularity of cryptocurrency (2017-2018) Ethereum has seen an increase in popularity. In the past two years, Ethereum specifically has been searched for on Google around 110 Million times. Moreover, according to Consensys, #Ethereum is used on Twitter around 20,000 times per day. According to Consensys:

“The network has processed nearly 240 million transactions. At its height on January 4, the network processed 1.3 million transactions in 24 hours.  To date, 35 million unique addresses exist on the Ethereum blockchain. On January 4, 2018, the number of active (i.e. transacting) addresses on Ethereum surpassed 1 million for the first time.”

Moreover:

“The Ethereum developer community is estimated to be the largest in the world, at 250,000. In October 2017, Truffle — a development framework for Ethereum — surpassed 200,000 downloads. In less than a year, downloads are now at nearly 550,000. Github, which draws open-source developers from around the world, lists 14,000 repositories and 220,000 commits concerning Ethereum.”

Why is this important? What this data shows, is that Ethereum is not just growing, but it withholds the ability to continue to grow. It’s almost as if Ethereum isn’t even half way there yet. Let’s face it, given its huge popularity and the aforementioned statistics, imagine the colossal achievements Ethereum could reach if it became the highest currency for market capitalisation. What’s more, if the Ethereum network continues to grow at this rate, we can only expect the value of Ethereum to grow too. In turn, this will increase Ethereum’s market cap and of course trading volumes. Whilst Ethereum is not a rival to Bitcoin, since it is entirely different, Ethereum does have the power to challenge Bitcoin’s market dominance. If it does, then the shape of the markets will change for good. Yes, this could make things a little more volatile but in the long run, if Bitcoins dominance sinks, with a level taken up by Ethereum, we can expect to see some much-needed diversity injected into the markets. To conclude, in the words of Consensys:

“The Ethereum blockchain ecosystem is diverse, it is decentralized, it is strong, and it is flooded with innovation and activity. Across the world, developers, thinkers, innovators, leaders, and creatives are coming together to build a new way of communicating, transacting, and organizing. We’re here for Web 3.0. We’re here for a decentralized future. We’re here for Ethereum.”