Imagine investing in Apple ages ago. Or what if you had gotten in really early at Facebook.

What if you were a co-founder of a venture-funded startup that ended up IPOing.

There are certain assets where the timing is just right – and even if you missed the first wave, the second, third, and even fourth waves can still be potentially insanely profitable.

Today, we’re going to recommend one particular asset – it’s a coin, it’s a technology, some might say it’s the best mainstream movement right now in the cryptocurrency, distributed ledger, and blockchain universe – that we think has the potential to make for insane gains in your portfolio.

First, the Caveats

Disclosures:

• We are long on this particular asset
• Past performance is not indicative of future results
• We do not provide individualized investment advice. Do your own due diligence, read up as much as possible on anything before investing
• Seek professional guidance for legal and tax implications of anything you invest in or trade
• You use this advice at your own risk.

Now, the Background

We want to keep you guessing as long as possible, because that’s what makes for good content…right? Consider an asset that did the following:

• Started the year in single digits – hovering around 8 bucks a coin
• Kept climbing and climbing each month, from 8, to 10, to 15, to 49, then into the low 80s
• And has a steady stream of banks getting on board with its technology.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, it’s Ethereum, it’s up 938% so far in 2017. And it may just be getting started.

Here then are the five reasons you should take a look at this coin.

1. If Bitcoin is Myspace, Ethereum is Facebook

First mover advantage is sometimes overrated. In fact, the first mover often does the hard work to shift the paradigm, and ends up with a close-knit community, but might ostracize those who aren’t immediately on board.

Myspace was the first social network to gain mainstream adoption – but Facebook watched what happened with Myspace and aimed to avoid repeating its mistakes. Facebook also got the right sorts of investment partners to make its stratospheric growth happen.

We see parallels between Bitcoin – which, if you ask the average Joe on the street might still be an underground movement – and Ethereum – which is also underground, sure, but is where the corporate money is flowing. Bringing us to our next point:

2. The Banks…

Actually, it’s more than just banks. The Ethereum Enterprise Alliance has some serious firepower in its roster of Launch Members. If you’ve spent any time at all in a Fortune 500 organization, you know how difficult it can be to get corporate buy-in on large projects; the fact that banks, financial services organizations, and other financial businesses such as BBVA, BNY Mellon, CME Group, Credit Suisse, ING, J.P. Morgan, Santander, and UBS are all on board is quite the accomplishment.

3. Coin + Technology

Simply put, Ether is the token, or coin, Ethereum is the technology. “Ether is the crypto-fuel for the Ethereum network,” according to the Ethereum website.

In addition to organizations building decentralized apps – “dapps” – on top of the Ethereum technology, quite a few coins/tokens have grown as “assets” on top of the Ethereum platform.

The question, when you’re buying ETH, is whether you’re buying a coin that represents the overall value of the ecosystem, or just the coin itself. And the answer is…both.

4. Coinbase – Really…

At this writing, Coinbase STILL only has two coins you can buy, sell, and trade on its platform: BTC and ETH. (DISCLOSURE: That’s an affiliate link over there; if you’re looking to get started and score some ETH, use that link and, with a qualifying purchase, you can get a bonus.)

We think that provides a unique, mainstream advantage – since Coinbase has a Silicon Valley feel to it, and has substantial investments in its platform. Coinbase is not going away. And, to the extent that the coins traded on Coinbase are still limited, it is less of a trading hub, and more of a buy-and-hold platform for getting started in the crypto economy.

5. The ETF

We wrote about the potential for an Exchange-traded Fund, or “ETF,” here last week. Whether or not it gets approved might be beside the point: the fact that only two coins are currently being considered for an ETF makes us think that only two coins are being seriously considered as the unavoidable infrastructure underpinning the digital currency movement.

If it’s approved, expect money to flow into ETH rather rapidly.

If it’s denied – which is what happened to the Bitcoin ETF a month ago – expect the price to drop immediately, then inch its way back up. (BTC fell from around 1200 to around 900, and was back where it was before the denial in a few weeks).

Where Could Ethereum Go?

We don’t want to get into price projections here – that could get us into trouble, and it also isn’t wise, in our opinion, to start saying “ETH could go to…” and inserting a number.

But we will say that these five reasons can serve as a guide that Ethereum is certainly going places. And maybe there’s room for it in your portfolio.