Despite the inflation-powered downswing in 2022, investing markets are on a sustained roll. If you put $1,000 into an S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) index fund four years ago, you'd have $2,167 today. The halving of Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) rewards in May 2020 led to another cycle of price gains and moderation, punctuated with the approval of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) reflecting spot-price Bitcoin values three months ago. Hence, $1,000 of Bitcoin has grown to $10,690 over the same four-year span.

But neither Bitcoin nor the stock market could hold a candle to Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH). Putting $1,000 into the leading smart contract currency in April 2020, you'd have a cool $26,800 in your digital wallet by now. The cryptocurrency is now worth $3,430 per coin, up from $1,800 a year ago and $133 in early April, 2020.

But past performance is not a guarantee of future results. Does Ethereum have any game-changing moves up its sleeve, comparable to Bitcoin's next 50% cut of mining rewards? Is this digital asset likely to continue its market-beating surge in 2024 and beyond?

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Source Fool.com