Ethereum’s Market Capitalization Trumps World’s Top Corporations, But It Has Not Always Been Smooth Sailing

• Ethereum’s market cap sits at $360.37 billion which is larger than the valuation of top brands in the world.
• Since launch, the asset has played second fiddle to Bitcoin and has had to grapple with some of the sternest challenges that threatened its existence.
• The community is confident that the dark days are over and brighter days are just over the horizon.

Ethereum, the unofficial home of NFTs, Dapps, and DeFi, has a large market cap thanks to the integral role it plays in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. However, it is at a precarious slope in its existence but the general sentiment remains bullish.

Ethereum Is Bigger Than The Big Brands

In the last few years, the Ethereum network has grown in leaps and bounds, reaching an all-time high of $4,891 in November 2021. Since achieving this feat, ETH has fallen by 40% and currently trades at $3,014 which gives it a market capitalization of $360 billion and the title of the second-largest cryptocurrency.

Ethereum’s market cap is larger than Toyota, Shell, Disney, and Nike, which are all entities far older than Ethereum. Toyota and Shell have a valuation of $275.35 billion and $194 billion respectively, while Disney and Nike are worth $256 billion and $234 billion. Ethereum’s growth in recent years is tied to the growing global adoption of cryptocurrencies that have seen the entire asset class reach highs of nearly $3 trillion.

Apart from the general growth of the ecosystem, Ethereum’s design makes it the melting pot for DeFi with several protocols leveraging on the network’s offerings. Dapps and NFTs had their big break on Ethereum as developers and creators flocked to the space. It would be wrong to assert that Ethereum’s journey has been smooth sailing all the way. Transaction volumes on the Ethereum network spiked, leading to network congestion and skyrocketing gas fees that threatened the essence of the network.

In November, the average transaction fee on the Ethereum network stood at just over $50, causing angst to users. In the wake of soaring gas prices, competing blockchains like Cardano, Solana, Binance Coin, and Polkadot seized the chance to close the distance between them and Ethereum.

The Ace Up The Sleeve

Ethereum’s community is brimming with confidence that the network’s woes will be behind it soon. The plan to migrate from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake is expected to kill two birds with the same stone by making it energy-efficient and also help in the reduction of gas fees.

Plans for the transition are already at an advanced stage and bulls are rubbing their hands in glee over an anticipated spike in the value of the asset.

ETHUSD Chart by TradingView

As the price hovers around $3,000, the general sentiment is that ETH is undervalued as a litany of predictions have been floated around that the asset was headed to $10,000. A botched transition could be fatal for the network as the competition between it, Solana, Polkadot, Cardano, and other ETH Killers have reached a heightened crescendo.