As CoinMarketRate.com claim, considering the speed of Ethereum growth, it should grow by about 156% to catch up with Bitcoin, if the price of the latter remains unchanging. And here we touch on a very sensitive topic: can Ether become the flagship of the cryptocurrency market, outstepping the BTC?
The Great Potential of Two crypto giants
There has never been a guarantee that Bitcoin will forever remain the largest cryptocurrency in the world. With faster transactions and more versatile use cases, ETH is arguably the “best” cryptocurrency. However, this does not guarantee that Ether will actually outshine Bitcoin. BTC is still the most widely used cryptocurrency, which gives it a huge advantage. In this article, let’s explore the progress made by Ethereum and whether it can continue this trend.
Market capitalization
This year, the price of Ethereum has increased from 730 to more than $4K, which is 350% more. Over the same period, Bitcoin has grown from $29,388 to $64,000, by about 88%. Both of these assets have skyrocketed in value in a short period of time.
Ethereum is currently valued at $469.5 billion, while Bitcoin has a capitalization of more than $1 trillion.
But the success of Ethereum has been much more impressive. If both coins continue to grow at the current rate, Ethereum will eclipse the market capitalization of BTC in less than two years.
But it’s one thing to note that Ethereum is winning against Bitcoin, and quite another to say that it will continue to do so. While Ether has its advantages, Bitcoin still has its advantages:
- It is used as digital gold;
- More sellers accept it as a currency;
- More publicity;
- The trailblazer advantage.
And these are important advantages. But then again, the adoption of Ethereum is rapidly gaining momentum. So, in the end, even experts find it difficult to say which cryptocurrency will become the “master” of the crypto space in a year. Both ETH and BTC have many advantages, but some analysts are leaning towards Ether.
According to the well-known eToro market analyst Simon Peters, Ethereum can still surpass Bitcoin, and become the dominant crypto asset.
Ethereum is a Klondike of Possibilities
Today, the brainchild of Vitalik Buterin hit $4,100, a new all-time high in its nearly six-year history, setting a bright green marker for when Bitcoin behaves more passively during what is a period of growth for altcoins.
While the price of the native Ethereum – ETH coin is still a considerable distance away from BTC, the gap is gradually closing, and the ownership of Ether is overflowing with such stores that Bitcoin simply did not have at the same historical point of its development.
According to eToro analyst Simon Peters, this could be a compelling signal that Ethereum has more than just the phenomenal potential to overtake the world’s most dominant cryptocurrency.
“Ethereum is certainly able to compete with Bitcoin for leadership among crypto assets in terms of its capitalization, but it will take several more years before this can happen,” the expert said.
“Do not forget that the purpose of creating these coins is completely different. Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency that performs the functions of saving value, and Ethereum is a blockchain platform where decentralized applications are created and smart contracts are used”.
Although they are often viewed as different ecosystems, the development of both Bitcoin and Ether often runs parallel, as they reflect similar patterns of ebb and flow on horizontal charts that illuminate the puzzled faces of many traders around the world.
Recently, however, ETH has been firmly on its way. Over the past few weeks (perhaps due to the sharp rise in the price of BTC), Ethereum has quietly deviated from the course, following in the footsteps of the leader, and instead began to strive for significant growth in its own network.
“At the moment, Ethereum arguably has more potential for more real-world applications, which creates a broader ecosystem than Bitcoin,” Peters added.
“A lot of DeFi applications are currently being built, such as Uniswap, MakerDAO, and Chainlink, as well as to support smart contracts and NFT.
“Of course, part of the success of Ethereum can be attributed to Bitcoin, and the interest in the crypto assets created by it. With much more activity and an increasing number of users predicted for Ethereum, thanks to the number of applications built on it, I expect that this will lead to an increase in the overall cost of the network, and in turn, the price of Ether can grow even faster”.
It should be noted that a key ingredient in Ethereum’s recent cocktail of success is where ETH is now, almost six years later. It is where Satoshi Nakamoto’s brilliant vision saw Bitcoin.
Sit down, and carefully study the roadmaps of both crypto assets, and you will find it difficult to contain your surprise.
“It’s also important to remember that Bitcoin had a six — year head start, compared to Ethereum,” Peters explains.
“If you look at where Bitcoin’s market cap was six years ago, it was roughly $5 billion, whereas Ethereum, at a similar stage in terms of its life cycle (six years since launch), has a market cap of $300 billion.”
It’s a striking comparison that makes the current $60,000 price difference look like an ice cube on a glacier.
Although markets across the board have turned a particular shade of green today, today’s echo of the all-time high for Ethereum will resonate for a long time to come, sparking discussions about the prospect of a “split” between BTC and ETH.
A wider range
“While these two coins have been trading in tandem for most of the past three years, as the crypto asset market begins to mature, investors will look at a wider range of assets and evaluate which one has the best long-term potential,” adds eToro’s lead crypto analyst.
“Bitcoin has attracted the attention of millions of investors, but Ethereum offers an alternative. Since the value of Ether in dollars is significantly lower than that of Bitcoin, it also attracts investors who want to own whole coins, which is now much more expensive to achieve with Bitcoin.
“Thanks to the widespread use of the Ethereum network since its last update, the crypto asset continues to offer many opportunities to developers and investors. Just look at the popularity and growth of DeFi projects.
Ethereum has every chance to become the real queen of the crypto space”.
And he is not alone in his views. Before the dramatic fall in the markets, a lot of experts ‘ eyes were drawn to the speed and momentum of Ethereum.
Some analysts claimed that the next stop for Ether would be around $3,000. Once this mark is passed, the psychological barrier of 5000 will seem quite achievable in the coming months.
However, there were some caveats. Suzanne Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, was quick to point out the potential storm caused by the volatile price action at the time.
“This week, the cryptocurrency world remains unstable, and there is a strong volatility in the prices of coins and tokens,” she warned.
“Ethereum in particular has made great strides in recent days, but in this speculative environment, its future direction is far from certain. The currency’s gains are fueled by chatter on internet forums, with influencers scrambling for position to promote their favorite coins.”
Hype around Cryptocurrencies
The experienced analyst also urged wise people not to succumb to the current trend of being a member of the cryptocurrency industry at all costs.
“Once again, the risky combination of social media and easy access to cryptocurrency trading has led to increased speculation,” she added.
“Investors should be extremely careful not to get caught in this panic-stricken crowd, because Ethereum is still a big bet. Its price is determined primarily by speculation with future prices, and not by the underlying usage scenario”.
It is simply impossible to predict the moment when demand will fall and prices will begin to fall. Well, tell the traders now that the market is waiting for another crash. Against the background of what is happening with cryptocurrencies today, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to believe this.
So, based on the above, we can only watch how passions will flare up in the crypto market, seeing firsthand how the history of the world of finance is being made.
