After falling to a weekly low of $233 on May 23rd, the price of Ethereum (ETH) started rising again and looked like it might break the significant resistance level of $260. However, it appears the resistance point is stronger than analysts previously estimated and after a third failure to break through it, Ethereum may need to consolidate further.
Ethereum’s privacy issues
Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin spoke recently of the severe privacy problems that Ethereum suffers from. As the cryptocurrency industry matures, the desire for privacy has become a hot topic and Buterin understands the need to address the concerns. He believes that the links that can be made between transactions on the Ethereum blockchain, even when using multiple addresses, reduce privacy on the network.
“It seems like this can be improved by using multiple addresses, but not really: the transactions you make to send ETH to those addresses themselves reveal the link between them,” he said in a post on Hackmd.io.
To address the problem, Buterin has suggested a system that uses a specific ‘fixed’ transaction amount that isn’t visible on-chain, therefore making it impossible for observers to make a connection between transactions. He described the method as a “minimal mixer design”, that essentially hides transactions in plain sight by making them all identical.
The system is just an idea at present but if it proves successful it could greatly boost interest in Ethereum by both investors and developers.
Ethereum’s upcoming “Istanbul” Hardfork
Momentum has been gathering over the past few weeks in regard to Ethereum’s upcoming “Istanbul” hardfork, due to be implemented on the mainnet in Q3 of this year. Currently, there are 28 Ethereum improvement proposals (EIP’s) put forward by developers, all of which have been compiled into a spreadsheet by James Hancock, project team lead at EthSignals.
The most significant EIP is 1057, which proposes a change in the consensus method for Ethereum from proof-of-work (PoW) to progressive proof-of-stake (PPoW). A PPoW consesus method makes it easier to mine Ethereum using GPU cards rather than ASICS which developers worry are causing centralization on the network.
Ethereum Price update
If the recent upward momentum resumes, the Ethereum price is likely to face resistance at $256.60, the top of its current closing triangular pattern. A break above this price level could drive all the way to $279.90, the high point of the recent rally. A downward move would find support at $233.57, the low end of the triangular pattern. A break below this point may find support at around $225 or continue down to the 61.80 percent Fib level at $197.60.
Ethereum’s market cap is currently at $26.58 billion and price of ETH is trading at $250.36, up 0.15 percent in the past 24 hours.
The post Ethereum (ETH) Price Stalls at $260 for Third Time in a Week, Buterin Talks Privacy appeared first on Cryptocoin Spy.
