Published
5 years ago on
December 28, 2018
Ethereum (ETH) is well positioned for a rally just before its upcoming Constantinople hard fork. Word on the street is that this hard fork is expected to give a massive boost to the price of ETH/USD. It seems reasonable to expect this considering the purpose of this hard fork is to make the transition from Proof of Work (PoW) to Proof of Stake (PoS) more effective. Ethereum (ETH) has now lost its position as the second largest coin by market capitalization but we have reason to believe that it has lost a lot more than that. Things are not the same as they were at this point during the previous cycle. In fact, Ethereum (ETH) is no longer positioned to call itself the leader of altcoins or even platform coins.
Many of Ethereum (ETH)’s direct competitors like Ethereum Classic (ETC), Cardano (ADA), Lisk (LSK) and Quantum (QTUM) are way ahead of it in terms of progress made during the past few months. They have effectively gained in areas where Ethereum (ETH) has lost. This is why it is no surprise that Ethereum (ETH) ended up losing its spot to Ripple (XRP). The upcoming hard fork is expected to give a big boost to the price of Ethereum (ETH) because it is going to smoothen one of the most controversial transitions in blockchain history. The decision to go for Proof of Stake (PoS) was not an easy one but Vitalik Buterin believed that it was worth the risk. There are still many developers in the Ethereum (ETH) community who feel left out and betrayed over this transition.
Chart for ETH/BTC (1W)
It is still a big risk considering there is a strong possibility that a lot of miners and developers will switch back to Ethereum Classic (ETC), the original chain. In short, it’s a big gamble. If Vitalik Buterin and his team succeed with this, they will have something that nobody has achieved so far. Blockchains like Ethereum Classic (ETC) will become instant winners in the PoW space as Ethereum (ETH) switches to PoS but they will still have to deal with all the challenges facing a PoW model. We still do not have enough proof that Ethereum Classic (ETC) or any other blockchain following the PoW model can make it work long term. The development teams behind such projects think they can but we honestly do not know yet.
Ethereum (ETH)’s transition to PoS is a big risk but Vitalik is willing to take it because he does not care about its impact on the price. In fact, he has been very vocal about how people are more concerned about cryptocurrencies succeeding as an investment rather than as a technology. So, it is pertinent to note that Vitalik’s decision may not have investors’ best interest at heart. That being said, most people who are still invested in Ethereum (ETH) already know that this transition is going to happen. The fact that the Constantinople hard fork is going to ease this transition is likely to attract a lot of new investors making them believe that maybe this transition is not so bad and things might work out in the long run.
