Ethereum and Bitcoin are two of the worlds biggest cryptocurrencies. While Bitcoin is the #1 cryptocurrency in terms of global market cap, Ethereum is close behind at the 2nd position. However, in terms of practical use cases, ETH is much ahead of Bitcoin. Even in terms of overall growth and ROI, Ethereum is far ahead. So, the ultimate question is - will/can ETH beat BTC in the coming future? Lets find out.
If experts are to be believed, ethereum has a much higher chance of replacing bitcoin as the number one cryptocurrency in the world than any other altcoin.
Why?
Well, the power of Ethereum lies in Smart Contracts, which is something Bitcoin lacks. With bitcoin, the focus is more on increasing the value of the coin by making bitcoin more popular and accessible to people looking for easier & low-cost digital payments. Ethereum, on the other hand, is almost entirely focused on developing advanced solutions using smart contracts and the DApp (decentralized application) platform.
While both Bitcoin and Ethereum have utilities in their respective fields, Ethereum is more technologically-inclined and has, therefore, a better chance to see adoption by big corporations and organisations with a long-term perspective. Also, the pace of development on Ethereum is much faster than the rate of adoption of bitcoin. In fact, in the past couple of years, the number of apps based on ethereum has increased by almost 20 times.
Why and how is Ethereums popularity increasing?
Ethereum is not just a coin, but its a complete blockchain that not only executes digital financial transactions but can be used for creating high-tech, blockchain-based decentralized financial applications and products with ease. With a strong & increasing popularity of decentralized finance, many individuals and enterprises have already started using ethereums network to create and offer traditional financial services and products on the blockchain.
As a public and open-source blockchain, ethereum can be used by practically anyone for any purpose, from building decentralized applications to testing their apps and integrating advanced blockchain solutions into existing systems.
Another major ethereum use case that is rising in popularity these days is non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which allow the digitization of collectibles for increased liquidity.
In the past few months (between September 2020 and May 2021), the price of ETH increased by more than 1000%, if we ignore the recent drop in the price. Compared to that, the price of BTC increased by nearly 600% during the same period. The faster and more significant growth of ethereum over the past year can be attributed to the platforms increasing popularity and use cases.
Even fintech giants such as Goldman Sachs have accepted that ETH makes a much better store of value and might eventually beat bitcoin in the long term. Because of the presence of unlimited real uses, the value of ETH will continue to increase in the coming days and might even overtake bitcoin as a preferred store of value.
Like any other emerging technology, ethereum is not perfect. As of now, the cost of ETH transactions is quite high and the speed is slower than what the creators would have expected. However, all this is expected to change with the launch of the much-awaited Ethereum 2.0 upgrade, which will significantly increase the transaction speed and reduce the cost by migrating to the proof of stake (PoS) consensus mechanism from the current proof of work (PoW) mechanism.
So, to answer the question, yes, its very much possible that ETH will overtake Bitcoin as the worlds number one cryptocurrency. And it might happen sooner than we expect, as ETH 2.0 is all set to launch by the end of the year. When that happens, the value of ether will reach never-before-seen heights.
This is the best time to start investing in ETH to build your portfolio. With Shiftal P2P exchange (https://www.shiftal.com/), you can buy ETH at great prices directly from other users at a zero fee. Sign up today to get started.