The Google search query for ‘Buy Ethereum’ is trending at all-time highs. The price is simultaneously going through the roof. Year-to-date Ethereum’s native digital token called ‘ether’, have returned more than 900%. The overall market cap for the smart contract based blockchain is $7 billion.

Research and development into Ethereum, beginning in 2015, has not slowed. The recent announcement of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, which seeks to bring together Fortune 500 enterprises and academics to support the development of enterprise-grade blockchain tech includes Accenture, Microsoft, Intel, JP Morgan and UBS all joined the Alliance.

To be sure, such institutional interest is directed specifically at Ethereum’s smart contract potential, and not its native digital token, ether.

One innovation based on smart contracts is the Ethereum Naming Service, which strives to enable URL addresses ending with .eth soon.

An upcoming EEA conference will surely include the announcement of new corporations. Ethereum developers are also planning on releasing Raiden so as to make Ethereum faster, more scalable, confidential and interoperable.

Ethereum recently surpassed $100 handle for the first time ever. Ethereum first increased 25% in 24 hours to breach the psychological milestone. The price of ether was just $8 in January. In April, the price of ether increased 65% to the $80 handle. Ether tokens, first sold to the public in 2015, are up more than 3,000% from their original sale price.

Analysts called Ethereum’s current bull run. Many are confident it is a sign of Ethereum’s sturdy fundamentals. Others note that virtually every cryptocurrency listed on digital currency market data aggregator CoinMarketCap is currently trading in the green. After ether breached the $100 mark it quickly corrected to $95.

While Bitcoin started the crypto-renaissance, Ethereum has been experimented on by some of the world’s foremost multinational corporations and financial institutions.

There are numerous types of Crypto assets, including crypto-currencies and crypto-commodities. Chris Burniske, Blockchain expert for ARK, considers Ethereum a “crypto-commodity” because it provides access to what Ethereum developers call a “decentralized world computer.”

Ethereum has enabled myriad projects called decentralized applications or ‘dapps’. Basically, individuals are able to

As Ethereum has enjoyed an increase in price so too has Ethereum Classic, a knock-off (as a result of Ethereum’s blockchain splitting) whose participants preferred an alternative code implementation than the blockchain’s founders.

The aggregate total of crypto-markets in general is pushing $40 billion. Many people cite the reason for Ethereum’s recent price gains not due to the demand for the project’s native token, ether, but, rather, as a byproduct of an across-the-board price increase in assets listed across the so-called crypto-asset complex. Even Dogecoin is increasing in price.

With that said, the experimentation done on Ethereum means that considerable brain power has been put into the project- likely a similar amount to Bitcoin. That alone is something most blockchain’s – even one which raised millions in initial coin offerings – simply do not enjoy.

Considering that ‘buy ethereum’ has reached all-time highs on Google Trends, one wonders how much more support the currency could enjoy.

Featured image from Ethereum.