http://www.cnbc.com/2016/04/01/wall-street-and-tech-start-to-move-past-bitcoin.htmlEthereum Foundation emphasizes on its website that ether is not meant to be competition to bitcoin, nor is it "intended to be used as or considered a currency, asset, share or anything else," but that desire has apparently been ignored. The dramatic price increase shows that some are speculating on ether, and a recent New York Times report called Ethereum a "rival virtual currency" to bitcoin.
One source with knowledge of Ethereum's beginnings told CNBC in 2014 that some investment offers valued the project at about $500 million, and that Google Ventures was one of the interested parties.
Hmmm...First the New York Times and now CNBC. These outlets are not easy to get coverage from.
Regardless of what happens to Ethereum and its price, what we're seeing - in inevitably slow-motion real-time - is the mainstreaming of cryptocurrency. Ethereum's "march through the financial media" is a lot more orderly than Bitcoin's burst into the MSM. Back then, the Bitcoin stories were essentially sensationalistic and clickbaity. They were the kind of write-ups that typically accompany a bubble. But not this time; not with Ethereum. There are zero stories about "insta-millionaires" and the wild Silk Road. Ethereum's being covered as if it were a newsworthy and promising tech startup.
This year's the tipping point, fellas. If you choose to, you can emerge from this here underground as a genuine early adopter. Even if Ethereum itself sputters to a halt or crashes and burns, we-all have arrived. Might as well enjoy it, if you can.