Competition from bitcoin broke the $ 4,000 barrier. What must be taken into account when investing?

Cryptocurrencies continue to give something to talk about, after the surge that bitcoin has hit in recent months. Now ethereum development, the second cryptocurrency in the world, seems to take the same course.

During the last months, ethereum continues to advance and already this Monday it exceeded $ 4,000 for the first time in its history. Only in the last day had an advance of 5%.

This cryptocurrency, which is based on a blockchain called Ethereum, was at times trading at $ 4,100.

And it is that during 2020 year it had a growth of 450%, while its competition, bitcoin, advanced 100% since the beginning of the year.

And it is that many investors are looking for options in cryptocurrencies less volatile than bitcoin and ether has become an important alternative. So the appetite for investment in ether has grown significantly, especially since a week ago, when it exceeded $ 3,000.

In addition to this, there is some confidence in this crypto active, to the point that most NFTs and digital auctions use it as a type of payment .

But perhaps what has also attracted attention is that it is beginning to have a lot of acceptance by important institutions such as the European Investment Bank, which plans to issue a digital bond through the development of ethereum blockchain technology.

Who created it?

Unlike bitcoin, whose creator remains completely anonymous, ethereum was created by Vitálik Buterin, a Russian who was born in a city near the capital, Moscow, and later emigrated to Canada.

This young man was always passionate about the subject and at just 18 years old he began to write for a specialized portal called Bitcoin Magazine , where he met Mihai Alisie, his partner with whom he founded Ethereum.

At just 20 years old, the young man won the prestigious Thiel Scholarship for under 23s, funded by millionaire Peter Thiel, famous for being one of the first investors in Mark Zuckerberg's social network, Facebook. Thanks to the grant, they were able to have $ 100,000 available to develop the Ethereum project.

Today, at just 27 years old, Vitálik Buterin has become the world's youngest billionaire in the crypto assets industry. The week before, it was estimated that his main ether wallet, where he has 333,520 ETH, already exceeds 1,300 million dollars.

According to Forbes magazine , with this growth in the valuation of Ethereum, Buterin already occupies the sixth place in the list of the youngest billionaires in the world. It should be noted that in the first place is Sam Bankman-Fried with a sum of US $ 8.7 billion, which he obtained through crypto assets.

Keep in mind when investing

If you want to invest in crypto assets, keep in mind that they are a very volatile asset , so your risk profile should be high. That is, just as you can earn a lot from one day to the next, in just one day the outlook can be adverse.

Experts advise making investments directly through the different platforms or exchanges available –without intermediaries– and not allocating more than 10% or 15% of your investment portfolio.

Finally, don't be fooled. Being a variable asset, nobody can promise you a fixed income through these digital currencies. Generally, the unscrupulous take advantage of people's ignorance to induce them to pyramid schemes.