Should you buy Ethereum while it’s under $3,500?

Both Bitcoin and Ethereum are essentially encrypted ledgers of transactions maintained on publicly accessible computer networks. But they serve fundamentally different purposes.

Bitcoin provides a digital coin that can be used for payments and is expected to increase in value over time due to increasing demand and a strictly limited supply.

Ethereum is the functional coin of a giant, global computer. Smart contracts embedded in its transactions are automatically executed and perform a wide range of digital functions based on real-world data. This functionality is at the core of decentralized finance (DeFi) systems, which move financial processes from banks to your smartphone.

Therefore, the value of the coin does not depend on tight supply constraints. It’s about smart contracts finding many use cases, millions of daily users, and a huge volume of actual Ethereum transactions. Each transaction triggers something in someone’s blockchain wallet, or in a decentralized game, etc. – and the transactions incur gas fees. Some of the tokens used to pay these fees are “burned” – that is, permanently removed from circulation. The rest goes to holders who stake their Ethereum coins, giving them the ability to validate transactions on the blockchain and keep them secure. Importantly, you can pay additional gas fees to run your smart contracts faster, which is likely to result in significant price increases as Ethereum-based apps become mainstream.

In addition, Ethereum is constantly updating its software. Upcoming improvements include tighter security, changes intended to result in cheaper transaction fees, and technical foundations for future breakthrough upgrades. This stimulus will be necessary to meet the challenges of younger and faster smart contract platforms. It would be a shame to build a global market for decentralized apps just to see it happen Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) And Cardano (CRYPTO:ADA) Benefit from all the benefits of your work in the long term.

What’s missing from this overview is a timeline for the launch of decentralized finance apps. With or without support from Bitcoin’s tenor-dictating price trends, the true value of Ethereum will only become clear when we see the first killer apps of the DeFi and Web3 movements.

It is difficult to place adequate value on a digital transaction tracking network, especially in a rapidly changing market that includes several credible alternatives.

Nevertheless, I am convinced that DeFi and Web3 will revolutionize personal finance around the globe. Disrupting the huge banking sector will be a difficult task, but it may also be inevitable. The financial systems you use every day in 2025 have been around for decades or even centuries, and better tools are available today.

And despite a host of challengers, Ethereum remains the frontrunner in the smart contracts space. Many signs point to a healthy user community. The Ethereum market accounts for more than half of all crypto assets included in app development projects. There are around 300 million active Ethereum addresses, up from 130 million four years ago.

The network effect of this rapidly growing user group should increase the value of Ethereum over time. According to Metcalfe’s law, the value of a network grows proportionally to the square of the number of people involved. This value formula was originally applied to telecommunications networks in the 1980s, but has also been applied to the Internet, social networks, airport networks and financial services.

With this in mind, I expect Ethereum’s real value to increase as more people embrace its quick and low-cost solutions to age-old financial problems. I can’t promise that $3,333 is the best buy-in price ever; However, in the long term, I see a bright future for this crypto community and the coin should increase in value over the years.

Ethereum may or may not skyrocket in 2025, but it doesn’t matter. I suggest holding this cryptocurrency for the long term.

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Anders Bylund holds positions in Bitcoin, Cardano, Ethereum and Solana. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin, Cardano, Ethereum, and Solana. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Should you buy Ethereum while it’s under $3,500? was originally published by The Motley Fool