Cryptocurrencies Beyond Bitcoin, Understanding Ethereum and Easy On-Ramps

While Bitcoin still dominates the crypto market, accounting for nearly 65% of the global crypto market cap, the largest crypto asset has always walked hand in hand with other currencies that supplement the use cases it lacks. One of Bitcoin’s oldest companions is Ethereum, the original smart contract chain that comfortably holds the position of the second-largest cryptocurrency.

Ethereum is recognised as a key driver of decentralisation. With its history as the go-to platform for decentralized apps (dApps) and decentralized finance (DeFi), and the buzzing development activity on its chain, Ethereum remains at the forefront of the crypto industry and an essential asset for many investors.

Investors looking to onboard onto Ethereum for its growth potential, broad usability, or simply because they need it as fuel are turning towards on-ramps such as MoonPay that merge ease of use with reliability and robust security.

Ethereum: Not Your Run-of–the-Mill Crypto Asset

Ethereum has been at the very top of crypto for the better part of a decade since its inception almost exactly ten years ago. During that time, ETH has appreciated significantly, reaching a peak price of nearly $5000 and providing early investors with astonishing returns. Even if the price has corrected since then, the ATH is a clear indicator that ETH has more room to grow.

Despite its price potential, Ethereum has primarily been seen as an essential tool for blockchain developers. It is a platform that has put dApps on the map and remains one of the primary hubs for DeFi. With these areas of crypto gaining ever more importance, Ethereum is bound to continue writing the main narrative of crypto.

With a Total Value Locked (TVL) of nearly $65 billion, Ethereum has the largest market share across all blockchains today. It powers over 4,000 dApps and hosts some of the most prominent DeFi protocols.

Broad use cases and versatility make Ethereum an attractive choice for both builders of dApps and their consumers. At the same time, they can also affect Ethereum’s price.

The Peaks and Troughs in Ethereum’s Life

Since its inception, Ethereum has helped the crypto world to develop and innovate, and, as one of the oldest top cryptocurrencies, it’s been with crypto through thick and thin. Its trajectory is intricately woven with the fate of the crypto world.

In what is now part of crypto’s ancient history, Ethereum was the birthplace of NFTs. It’s ERC-721 standard enabled the creation of non-fungible tokens, a craze that dominated the crypto landscape for years, and still has important use cases and implications for crypto’s future. This culminated in ETH’s ATH of $4,878 in 2021, a nearly 600% increase since the year before.

Furthermore, it was with Ethereum that the idea of alternative consensus algorithms started materializing. Having recognised that, for all its advantages, Proof of Work also had numerous downsides, Ethereum was built with a completely different system in mind: Proof of Stake.

Ethereum’s Proof of Stake was a monumental change, as it drastically changed the way we operate with crypto, replacing expensive mining with validators, as well as offering investors the ability to stake holdings for passive income, a feature that is everywhere in crypto today.

With features like these on its resume and an immense technological pool thanks to its dominating ERC-20 standard, Ethereum’s importance in blockchain cannot be overstated.

Buying Ethereum the Right Way 

Investing in the building blocks of the crypto world rarely turned out to be a bad decision. To that end, MoonPay is an option known for its user-friendly design and is a great choice for beginners who want a hassle-free way to buy ETH without getting into technical details.

With rock-solid encryption and certified security, Moonpay has earned the trust of global payment giants like PayPal and Mastercard, and that of more than 30 million users. It is a one-stop avenue to all things Ethereum, including dApps, DeFi, crypto staking, and NFTs. It offers over 170 crypto assets and is supported in over 180 countries.

Its partnerships with the world’s premier payment providers, including Visa, Mastercard, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, and many more, are what make it the go-to option for ramping on crypto. With its intuitive interface that wraps its versatile offer in an easy-to-use package, it has been the first contact point with crypto for many newcomers.

MoonPay is accessible on desktop, with an iOS and Android app available for those who like to access Ethereum on the go.

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