The volatility of the cryptocurrency bitcoin is well-documented, but its cousin ether—the currency traded on the Ethereum blockchain(s)—is considered to be somewhat steadier.
Ether’s value has been steadily increasing for months now, which is why it was such a shock to cryptocurrency investors when the currency “crashed” for a short time yesterday, plunging from about a $300 value to a reported low of $0.10.
Ether almost immediately regained the lost value (it is now trading at about $324, according to data from Coindesk), but the “flash crash” has led to some unpleasantness in the cryptocurrency world.
Some investors were unsettled by the crash:
The future they said. #ethereum pic.twitter.com/niEN2dvulL
— Pizpie (@mBTCPizpie) June 21, 2017
. @coinbase UNBELIEVABLE. NOT EVEN TWO DAYS LATER AND YOU CRASH DURING A CRITICAL TIME……AGAIN. DUMBFOUNDED. #coinbase #bitcoin #ethereum
— cryptocurrenceej (@Currenceej) June 15, 2017
While others started singing the praises of bitcoin:
Today may be the day that a lot of people realize Ethereum doesn’t actually scale better than Bitcoin. https://t.co/Q0IxKoTREb pic.twitter.com/z4jb3cO0XJ
— Jameson Lopp (@lopp) June 21, 2017
This crash—which as noted was nearly immediately corrected—comes at a time when ether transactions have been experiencing lags and even outright cancellations on the blockchain, leading to frustration for traders on the network.
While ether the currency may be experiencing issues, it should be noted that Ethereum (as in, the blockchain) has been steadily gaining investment and enterprise interest; more and more members are joining the Enterprise Ethereum group, and an increasing number of companies and financial institutions are launching proof-of-concepts or networks with the underlying Ethereum technology.
However, as bitcoiners well know, it can be hard to fully separate a blockchain from the reputation of its cryptocurrency in the minds of the public and with outside investors.
Hopefully, this flash crash will turn out to be just a flash-in-the-pan note in Ethereum’s history books.