Ethereum News Update
Scaling questions abound for Bitcoin and Ethereum, but at least Ethereum is well on its way to a solution. And no, I don’t mean “Raiden.”
As the most famous of Ethereum’s potential saviors, Raiden could still end up declogging the Ethereum network, but it will have to outrace a new entrant called the “Liquidity.Network.” (Source: “Ethereum’s Raiden Network Has New Scaling Competiton,” CoinDesk, March 4, 2018.)
In other words, Raiden has competition.
Although both companies are using similar concepts—adding a “shell” over the blockchain to improve efficiency—it’s important to be first. Timing matters. Everyone is aware that the first network to go live can solidify its position as a frontrunner, which is why both Raiden and Liquidity.Network are working with a deep sense of urgency.
Liquidity.Network, in particular, is looking to launch its network in three months.
This ambitious timeline means that Ethereum could conquer the scaling issue by June 2018, a feat that even ETH proponents would not have claimed possible.
One of the entrepreneurs behind Liquidity.Network is an assistant professor at Imperial College London named Arthur Gervais. Speaking about the project, he said, “What we’re providing is a payment hub which allows you to do bi-directional payments among however many people you want, which we think could be big for ethereum in general.” (Source: Ibid.)
I’m quite hopeful about this project, as they are also testing a wallet for accepting off-chain payments. This is a novel experiment that could set the stage for even more impressive functionality down the road.
All told, this is good Ethereum news.
Analyst Take
While this information is not yet priced into Ethereum, it’s hard to ignore the obvious. Namely, that scaling issues have derailed ETH prices several times in the past. Therefore, a scaling solution going live on the mainnet should, by resolving those concerns, elevate ETH to our $1,500 Ethereum price forecast for Q2.
Source: Price Confidential
