Bitcoin.com CEO and bitcoin cash (BCH) proponent Roger Ver has recently argued bitcoin, the flagship cryptocurrency, is about to lose its place as the number one crypto in the world, as ethereum is set to take its place in the near future.
Speaking to The Independent Ver, who’s been involved in the cryptocurrency space since 2011 and has invested in various cryptocurrency startups, argued “technologically superior” cryptocurrencies will see massive gains in the coming months or years, while bitcoin will fall behind.
Per The Independent’s report, bitcoin cash and ethereum are said technologically superior cryptocurrencies. Last year, the cryptocurrency community nearly saw ETH surpass bitcoin, and dubbed the event “The Flippening.” While bitcoin is still on top, some continue to believe it’s a matter of time. Ver was quoted as saying:
“I see it happening, and I believe it’s imminent. Ethereum could overtake bitcoin by the end of the year and bitcoin cash could do the same before 2020.”
The entrepreneur suggests that a key factor leading this trend will be bitcoin’s technology, which has led to slow transaction times and high fees. These same flaws, he posits, do not exist among most of the 1,500 cryptocurrencies that have come into existence since bitcoin’s inception, each of them striving to improve on the original.
We might already be seeing the beginnings of this ‘flippening’ making itself known on the markets, with increases of 680 percent for ethereum in the past 12 months, compared to 390 percent for bitcoin. Bitcoin cash has also been surging, with its value growing from $439 to $1,431 since August 2017, according to data from CryptoCompare.
Though many crypto experts still believe that bitcoin is too well established to cede its position to anyone, Ver maintains his stance to the contrary, saying:
“It’s not guaranteed but it is much more likely to happen than not. Bitcoin cash has more than doubled in value in the last month and big investors coming in soon could see it double again by next week. People love to chase a rising star.”
Ver acknowledged that a scenario in which bitcoin remains the world’s top cryptocurrency is possible, although he believes it is unlikely. According to him, the cryptocurrency’s limitations will see its price stagnate, while bitcoin cash could see its price reach “hundreds of thousands of dollars.” Ethereum, on the other hand, has already surpassed bitcoin as the most searched-for cryptocurrency in India, as a study found the cryptocurrency had a 34.4 percent share of all cryptocurrency-related searches in the country, while bitcoin had a 29.9 percent share.
At press time, bitcoin’s market share of the cryptocurrency ecosystem is of 37.6 percent, while ethereum’s share is of 17.5 percent. A website created to monitor The Flippening shows that while bitcoin’s market cap is superior, ethereum has had more transaction in the last 24-hour period, and has a greater number of nodes.
