Ethereum’s impressive history shows how one single blockchain can act as several tools for developers and investors within the same concept. When Vitalik Buterin created Ethereum in 2013, the vision was to provide users with a cryptocurrency similar to Bitcoin and a blockchain totally different from what was currently on the market.

Hence, shortly after, Ethereum became an innovation hub where anyone could create endless virtual applications and organizations, all with the help of smart contracts. The technology allowed developers to write the codes of an agreement between two parties that would execute automatically after they’ve initiated their parts. Smart contracts have expanded from the decentralized ecosystem since then, and they’ve been considerably helpful in improving records, trade and supply chains by eliminating errors and securing data storage.

Ethereum’s technological network includes more than smart contracts. It brings innovation into the industry by supporting NFTs, DEXs, and even gaming as a sector, which propelled its prices into the mainstream. Hence, anyone making an ETH price prediction must consider more than the coin’s history and analyze Ethereum’s mechanism for development. So, let’s see what their contributions are to the cryptocurrency’s price potential for the future.

NFTs and Ethereum’s smart contract function

One of the first NFTs sold on the market happened around 2014, right before Ethereum’s release. However, once the platform became known for its smart contract functionality, it changed how NFTs are created and shared on the network, leading to their boom around the pandemic. The Ethereum blockchain is the optimal tool for hosting, producing and trading NFTs based on innovative standards.

As NFTs gained traction on the market, their use cases expanded to real-world cases such as real estate or digital art, the latter being one of the most prosperous ways to leverage NFT functionalities. Projects like CryptoKitties, the Bored Ape collection, or Decentraland made waves on the internet and made Ethereum a valuable tool for development and technological advancement.

Decentralized exchanges and Ethereum in trading

Cryptocurrency trading can be considerably volatile and dynamic, along with requiring high gas costs that support transactions. Although this is common within centralized exchanges, network congestion also affects decentralized ones when not maintained properly. Staying updated on the ethereum koers is vital, as fluctuations in Ethereum's value can directly impact transaction fees and overall trading conditions.

This is where Ethereum plays an integral part in improving DEXs through smart contracts, as they entail automated processes to be operated correctly, from order execution to liquidity pool creation. There are numerous popular decentralized exchanges built on Ethereum, such as:

• Uniswap supports various tokens and is innovating continuously;
• Curve Finance leverages community governance and diverse stablecoin pools;
• THORChain focuses on interoperability and utility;
• PancakeSwap makes trading efficient through its concentrated liquidity model;

Ethereum in gaming is trending

The gaming sector is one of the most developed, and it’s always looking for more advancements to appeal to the demanding customer audience and competition. Hence, play-to-earn games started to flourish on the Ethereum blockchain, where players can benefit from in-game assets and genuine ownership.

It all started with the CryptoKitties project, a game in which users could leverage cryptocurrencies and NFTs by playing with cats, allowing them to generate passive income from grooming and trading digital cats.

Ethereum’s contribution to gaming made it more secure since transactions are transparent. At the same time, the blockchain’s features offer an improved user experience within the virtual space while trading resources are plentiful.

How can these elements affect Ethereum’s price?

While the Ethereum network supports various digital applications, the presented ones are the most important in the market because they represent a breakthrough from crypto speculation to real-world use cases.

But as Ethereum’s usability increases and sectors like NFTs and gaming are getting more innovative, the price of Ethereum is increasing as it reflects its massive value. At the same time, the increased demand for blockchain applications will also drive a spike in prices because most of these platforms use Ether to benefit from fast transaction speeds and more availability.

Ethereum updates make it more approachable

Another contribution to Ethereum’s price includes the roadmap of updates proposed and maintained by Vitalik Buterin, the creator of Ethereum. The plan is to systematically solve Ethereum’s issues of scalability, high gas fees, and smart contract vulnerabilities to make Ethereum appealing to current investors and future users.

The first update, called the Merge, was a total success. It considerably lowered the energy-intensive Ethereum operations by employing the PoS consensus mechanism. This made Ethereum one of the most sustainable cryptocurrencies on the market, driving more demand from investors who value eco-friendly digital assets.

The latest upgrades on the network, Shanghai and Dencun, have addressed problems with staking and sharding, introducing the Beacon Chain, through which Ether can be withdrawn and data stored in blobs.

Ethereum will unlock worldwide expansion

Besides being a favoured asset in the crypto market, Ethereum has been selected by numerous real-world companies, like Microsoft or PayPal, to introduce blockchain technology to traditional systems. These multinationals tested the Ethereum blockchain to improve data scalability and enhance safety and transparency, and they’ve found the blockchain considerably useful.

The traditional data system that currently relies on the cloud has started to be less effective due to the emergence of external attacks and the increasing amount of customer data. Therefore, using Ethereum makes systems more accessible to programs, more scalable, and decentralized, eliminating human errors and, hence, entails less risk exposure.

Although the future of Ethereum is more focused on the blockchain part, its usability will trigger an increase in the cryptocurrency price as Ether will become requisite to fully benefitting from its features and security.

What’s in store for the Ethereum price?

Ethereum is the second most used and popular cryptocurrency on the market after Bitcoin and has gained its reputation for providing innovative blockchain solutions that drove the Ethereum price to the moon. The ecosystem is full of high-end tools like smart contracts that make it possible for NFTs and DEXs to ensure the best products and services for users, while its fusion with gaming revolutionizes an entire industry.