In a short period of time, Ethereum has managed to gain a lot of popularity on the digital currency market, with millions of dollars-worth of investments being poured into the new, trustless, smart contracts technology, which has a huge potential to further revolutionize the way we transmit data of all kinds, and the security behind it.

The last couple of months have brought forward a couple of growths and decreases in value, so this article will focus on some of today’s main factors that will further encourage Ethereum development, adoption and popularity. Additionally, Vitalik Buterin, has recently mentioned that: “I would say that Ethereum’s main benefits are in its generality and in its utility to many kinds of industries. There are applications in finance, identity, supply chain tracking, health care, energy and many other areas. This is a result of Ethereum deliberately being designed as a general-purpose programming platform.”

During the last couple of months, we have often heard economic analysts state that bitcoin is likely a bubble, about to burst, thus bringing forward a huge price decrease. Yet, this never actually happened, regardless of having the digital currency express its volatility during the last few weeks, with trading volumes going below the $3,999 threshold, and then rising back again to newer all-time highs.

However, it isn’t that hard to understand why numerous investors, bankers, finance enthusiasts, and of course market analysts tend to believe bitcoin is a bubble- because they’ve never seen anything like it. Since 2009, Bitcoin has managed to become the world’s most valuable currency, with no medium of exchange worth more than bitcoin is at this moment in time. When compared to traditional, fiat-based currencies, which have only gradually modified their value with time, it is understandable why bitcoin really took the world by storm.

At this moment in time, the growing popularity of bitcoin has encouraged over 100,000 merchants from all around the world to take bitcoin and other digital currencies as a form of payment for both products and services.

Recent reports now indicate that South Africa’s second biggest supermarket chain store, known by the name of Pick n Pay, has started accepting bitcoin in one of its stores, as reported by Electrum, a payment software development firm. The goal of this move is to test how the Pick n Pay customers react to the introduction of bitcoin-based payments, and see whether this represents a viable solution for all of their stores in South Africa.

During the last couple of months, China has been actively cracking down on digital currency use in the country. While the reasons behind this remain unknown, this is bound to hurt the market, considering the fact that China has been and continues to be the country with the highest digital currency trading volume, especially in the case of bitcoin.

After banning initial coin offerings, which were used by start-ups to generate funds by selling tokens for actual cash, and threatening to close down all domestic exchanges which do not clearly respect the regulatory terms imposed by the government, it seems like the country will now clamp down even further on bitcoin trading, as all digital token exchanges may be shut down.

Chances are that you may have heard about the tensions going on between North Korea and the rest of the world. After all, this is mostly what the media has been focusing on during the last couple of months, and it’s surely understandable given the circumstances.

However, recent reports indicate that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is now taking an unexpected interest in Bitcoin and other digital currencies. With this in mind, it appears that the regime may be funding itself with the help of the cryptocurrency, as mentioned by an intelligence research firm. So far, the news on the matter indicates that North Korea has started mining Bitcoin on the 17th of May, in order to generate more revenue that could sustain the country. While it is hard to imagine that a country could sustain itself on bitcoin mining rewards alone, this statement isn’t too far-fetched, as we’re talking about a country, rather than a company, therefore they most likely have all the processing power they need to mine bitcoin efficiently.

Bitcoin taxation and regulation have, and will continue to be a sensitive subject for both governments, but also members of the digital currency community from all around the world. According to recent reports, it seems like two members belonging to the US House of Representatives have just filed a bill meant to create a tax exemption for certain digital currency-based purchases.

The move, which if successful, is bound to be great news for the digital currency community in the United States, wants to create a de minimis tax exemption for all digital currency payments under the threshold of $600, starting from January 1st 2018.

Russia has always been an important force for the evolution and value of digital currency, yet the numerous internal debates going on in the country make it hard for the average bitcoin users to understand what is really going on, and whether the Kremlin government is either against, or for digital currencies.

This mostly relates to the numerous news articles related to Russia putting Bitcoin in a bad light, similar to what China has been doing for a while, yet is this really the truth? Recent reports indicate that last week, law enforcement in Russia decided to arrest three individuals, who were then charged with illegally trading around $9 million worth of Bitcoin, which represents the country’s first criminal case against bitcoin sales so far. While some may interpret this and state that the Russian government is against any use of bitcoin, it simply shows that the Kremlin authority wants to crack down on those who are using the digital currency as a means for money laundering, rather than its true purpose. Not only this, but there have been numerous reports of Russian courts banning several bitcoin websites alongside with exchanges from allowing people to exchange bitcoin to rubles and vice versa, mostly due to the fact that the law states that there is no legal way for people to legally exchange bitcoin into rubles.

In case you’ve been following recent bitcoin news, alongside our blog posts, then chances are that you’re well-aware of the massive value growth that the coin has seen during the last couple of months. Well, it seems like nothing is stopping the bitcoin train, as its value has recently topped the $5,000 threshold for the first time ever, hence setting a new all-time high, and encouraging even more people to get involved and place their investments.

With this aspect in mind, it is important to point out the fact that as of this moment, the all-time high of bitcoin rests at $5,005, as dictated by the CoinDesk price index. The overall value growth is simply amazing considering the fact that the yearly yield of bitcoin is of 420%.

During the last couple of months, Ethereum has had its ups and downs, yet at this time, it is close to nearing $400 in value for a single token, whereas the development of smart, decentralized applications based on smart contracts is at its peak.

Recent reports indicate that the founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, has recently signed a contract with the Russian State Bank for Foreign Economic Affairs and Development (VEB), to develop a separate entity, similar to the traditional one, named Ethereum Russia. The main purpose for this development is to help enhance the country’s abilities to create, adopt and implement blockchain technology.

While Ethereum hasn’t been around for long, it is definitely attracting the attention of hundreds upon hundreds of technology companies, including Microsoft, currently worth around $561 billion.

With this aspect in mind, not long ago, Microsoft has announced and released the Coco framework, which stands for Confidential Consortium. To put things better into perspective, Coco is actually an Ethereum-based project which will allow both large-scale organizations alongside with commercial companies to process information via the Ethereum blockchain, while getting access to much better privacy and data protection.