During the correction of the crypto market in early 2018, the price of bitcoin has significantly decreased in relation to its maximum values in the region of $ 20, but the progress that has been made this year in sharding (partitioning) Ethereum suggests that decentralized applications can solve major scaling issues as early as this year, which will automatically make it the year of Ethereum.
If Bitcoin is a cryptozoloto, the main digital asset, and the cryptosphere develops mainly in the direction of utilitarian (coin) coins and transactions between smart contracts, then Ethereum can be called cryptoplatinum.
However, while Ethereum plays a leading role in the development of smart contracts, its founder also has his own ideals. When Vitalik Buterin tweeted his intention to boycott CoinDesk's Consensus conference due to CoinDesk's association with several scam projects, it showed (as opposed to Coinbase) that some of the young people at the head of the crypto world have not yet lost the ethics and ideals on which supporters of their declarations of decentralization can rely.
Sharding can solve the problem of low bandwidth blockchain
The capabilities of the Bitcoin network are limited to approximately 3 – 7 transactions per second, Ethereum — 7 – 15 transactions per second, but this will not always be the case. Successful proof of the efficiency of the sharding concept means that the blockchain will grow faster, and its scalability problems can be solved before 2020.
Some say sharding is the biggest breakthrough since the invention of smart contracts. The proof of concept can be found here. Efficiency can be increased by using different types and levels of network nodes.
In fact, it is not so important how much it costs to implement these ideas, like the effect they will have on the blockchain.
The main purpose of sharding is to significantly improve scalability.
If Bitcoin is like DOS, then Ethereum is Windows.
If Bitcoin is “DOS” in the blockchain world, then Ethereum can be compared to “Windows OS”. There is a chance that Ethereum will fail as the first platform for smart contracts. His place may take another project that will succeed, being more technically advanced, more scalable and reliable. It is too early to talk about the most promising rivals of Ethereum, but the battle is already underway.
The blockchain has led to the emergence of thousands of new companies with innovative business models. Even ICO, with all the pressure of regulators, continues to flourish. Despite the fact that investing in Bitcoin and other cryptoactive assets is systematically prohibited by the authorities and criticized by banking investors, in 2018, the crypt market has become a real mainstream.
Bitcoin - Yin, Ethereum - Yang
If Bitcoin is a yin, a negative potential of blockchain technology, then Ethereum is a yang, a source of positive development of smart contracts that can fundamentally change the principles of the global network and methods of transferring funds.
Ethereum is trying to build a paradigm of a global decentralized computing infrastructure with an open source code that prevents fraud, is resistant to censorship and outside interference.
It is difficult to imagine that the price of Ethereum not in 2018 will not reach new highs, given the importance of its role. In early January, Ethereum set a new maximum, reaching 1 417,38 dollars, after which its price dropped more than three times.
Apparently, sharding will begin to develop from the simplest levels of parallelization and will gradually reach the level of scalability of the VISA system. VisaNet serves on average 150 millions of transactions per day and is able to process more than 24 000 transactions per second.
“Scalability at the VISA level” or even more may be necessary for Ethereum as cryptoplatinum, in order to unlock its full potential and have a significant impact on the lives of people around the world. During the time needed to implement this scenario, most central banks convert their fiat money systems into digital money based on the blockchain. While Japan will use Bitcoin, the share of transactions in which in the field of retail and services is growing every day, Ethereum, as the dominant platform for smart contracts, will have an increasing influence on a global scale.