Ethereum hits $2,000: what it means

Happy Friday. The week is ending on a high note for Ethereum, which is back in the news after financial giant BlackRock filed to launch an ETF backed by Ether, the blockchain’s native currency. This led the price to jump 10%, back over the $2,000 mark, for the first time in months as investors bet that BlackRock’s entry will attract billions of dollars in new capital.

This development brings renewed attention to the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency, which has largely been overshadowed by Bitcoin and even Solana during the long-awaited rally of the last two months. But while Ethereum boosters are rightfully enjoying the price surge, the return of the spotlight has also raised some familiar concerns.

These include griping about Ethereum’s transactions costs, known as gas fees, which have soared along with the burst of activity on the blockchain that has come with more trading. For long-time crypto watchers, this will bring back unpleasant memories of 2017 and 2021 when hype over Ethereum’s smart contract promise led to a surge in price—followed by the blockchain slowing to a crawl, which in turn forced those who wanted to transact to pay outrageous fees.

Ethereum’s momentous shift last year to a proof-of-stake system was supposed to alleviate the price and congestion issues, along with so-called layer-2 solutions—sub-layers on the network that process transactions in batches and then record them on the main blockchain.

The trouble is that while the layer-2 systems do indeed lower costs dramatically, they add complexity and make the Ethereum user experience—already an ordeal for those who aren’t crypto diehards—even more of a headache. They are also less secure. This has led some to gripe that Ethereum should have devoted its energy to making its main network cheaper and efficient rather than outsourcing the task to other projects.

Finally, the switch to proof of stake has also raised concerns over centralization as a relatively small amount of validators are now responsible for maintaining the network—a fact that Bitcoin purists, never gracious at the best of times, have lampooned mercilessly as part of the crypto world’s eternal infighting.

None of this means that Ethereum is facing major trouble—the network is the leading smart contract for a reason, with by far the most users and a robust and dedicated developer community. But as a new crypto bull market emerges, it will be harder for the platform to blame familiar headaches on growing pains. Ethereum is now almost a decade old, and the time has come for it to show it can deliver on its enormous potential.

Jeff John Roberts
jeff.roberts@fortune.com
@jeffjohnroberts

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