Get the weekly summary of crypto market analysis, news, and forecasts! This Week’s Summary The crypto market ends the week at a total market capitalization of $2,17 trillion. Bitcoin continues to trade at around $62,300. Ethereum experiences no changes and stagnates at around $2,400. XRP is down by 2%, Solana by 1%, and Dogecoin by 3%. Almost all altcoins are trading in the red, with very few exceptions. The DeFi sector decreased the total value of protocols (TVL) to around…
Will Ethereum Ever Surge Past Bitcoin?
As the oldest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin may rightfully lead the other digital assets by market capitalization. However, Ethereum takes second place as the leader of all altcoins. Furthermore, it is currently enjoying a swift surge in popularity and, subsequently, value.
Ether (ETH), Ethereum’s native token, has a market cap of roughly $200 billion. One unit sells for over $1620; some expect it to reach or even overcome Bitcoin soon. This article looks at Ethereum and its chances to take the top spot in the market cap table.
What is Bitcoin?
In January 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto introduced a peer-to-peer electronic cash system that functions securely without a central authority. It is from this idea that cryptocurrency, without a physical form, was born.
Primarily, Bitcoin is a medium of exchange and a store of value. Therefore, it serves as a viable alternative to the traditional currencies used by countries.
Bitcoin has been the de facto cryptocurrency leader ever since. Furthermore, the value of all other cryptos has been evolving with it, as well. As a result, Bitcoin has been the subject of most crypto trades in the past decade.
What is Ethereum?
Ethereum is the second biggest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. Since its inception in 2015, it has been a constant rival to Bitcoin’s supremacy. Today, with a 24h trading volume of $8 billion, it is one of the most popular cryptocurrencies.
Fundamentally, Ethereum is a decentralized computing platform for application development. In other words, it is a software platform where developers build smart contracts and decentralized apps using a programming language.
Smart contracts work so that a separate output can occur once a specific set of predefined rules is valid. Ether is the native currency that fuels this platform and aids application and smart contract development.
Ethereum began as an alternative to Bitcoin and its Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism. However, it had to use the exact mechanism before embracing the Proof-of-Stake as its consensus algorithm.
What Are the Similarities between Bitcoin and Ethereum?
The significant similarity between these two cryptocurrencies is decentralization. Simply put, they are not under the control of a single central authority. Instead, the communities that support their development are the ones who decide their evolutions.
Furthermore, Bitcoin and Ethereum operate on distributed ledger blockchains, which are inviolable and immutable. Therefore, other institutions cannot stop or hack them or change their transaction logs.
What Are the Differences Between Bitcoin and Ethereum?
The primary difference between Bitcoin and Ethereum is their functions. For example, Bitcoin provides people with more control over their asset transfers. Also, it gives them the anonymity that central banks cannot offer.
On the other hand, Ethereum is a platform for developing different applications and currencies. It provides a native token, Ether. But it uses it more as a means of exchange and support for developing other projects.
Another significant difference between Ethereum and Bitcoin is their market values. For instance, Bitcoin rides a wave of popularity that takes its price well above $22500. Also, it helps it keep a market cap above $440B.
On the other hand, Ethereum struggles to trade above $1600 at the time of writing. Also, its market capitalization has yet to exceed $200 billion.
Nevertheless, it doesn’t mean that Ethereum can never overcome Bitcoin. On the contrary, Ethereum opened a significant value gap between its current status and other altcoins. From this position, it aims to attack Bitcoin’s supremacy and defeat it.
Is Ethereum better than Bitcoin?
This question doesn’t have a specific answer. However, as we mentioned above, Bitcoin serves more as a value store and digital currency. So, BTC is more likely to satisfy your needs if you are looking for a long-term investment.
On the other hand, Ethereum is more of a means for supporting a purpose. So, if you are a developer looking to build a decentralized application, Ether is more suitable than BTC. Of course, you can also hold ETH and gain from its value surge sometime in the future. However, its value rate doesn’t increase as rapidly or significantly as Bitcoin’s price.
Ethereum is a much faster blockchain platform than Bitcoin. For instance, it can validate a new block once every 12 seconds. On the other hand, Bitcoin confirms a new block once every 10 minutes. So, Ethereum is a much better choice if you’re looking for speed.
On the other hand, Bitcoin tends to be a more secure network than Ethereum. This is because it has a more established structure and status in the market to defend against hackers. However, they both face scalability issues that need reliable solutions in the years to come.
Conclusion
If you consider investing in cryptocurrencies, Ethereum and Bitcoin represent viable solutions. Still, it depends on your investment reasons and goals. In other words, it all boils down to what you wish to obtain from it.
As we mentioned above, both can provide you with a substantial ROI in the long term. However, Bitcoin has the edge in delivering better returns. On the other hand, Ethereum is more suitable for building new apps than as a store of value. So, it can provide you with more active involvement in the crypto space.
It will take some time before Ethereum can surge past Bitcoin, and maybe it will never. For now, we can only wait and see.
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