It is safe to say the cryptocurrency ecosystem is anything but stable right now. With Bitcoin still struggling for momentum, altcoins will struggle quite a bit as well. The one thing that sheds an interesting light on this entire debacle is Ethereum. More specifically, the Ethereum price keeps moving up every single day. Moreover, Ethereum now has over half the market cap of Bitcoin, which is a rather impressive feat.
Very few people had expected to see Ethereum come close to Bitcoin in market cap. Although similar discussions first became apparent about a year ago, the situation has changed quite a bit ever since. In fact, it seemed as if the so-called “flippening” would never materialize after all. Especially with Bitcoin’s market cap growing to over $200bn and Ethereum remaining below $100bn. Things always have an interesting way of working out in the cryptocurrency world, though.
More specifically, the Ethereum market cap is now $126.67bn. That is over half of Bitcoin’s, although there is still a very long way to go. If the Ethereum price momentum keeps up, we may achieve some degree of parity in the future. Bitcoin’s current issues don’t warrant it being the world’s leading cryptocurrency for much longer. Ethereum also has its fair share of issues and controversy, though. None of those problems have impacted the Ethereum price in a negative way, by the look of things.
At the time of writing, we have an Ethereum price of just over $1,300. This is a very healthy increase compared to the $880 of just one week ago. Although there has been some market resistance, the Ethereum price has been on a solid course to set new all-time highs nearly all week. Ever since surpassing $1,000, anything is possible. A remarkable turn of events, but a more than welcome one at the same time.
With nearly $9.5bn in 24-hour trading volume, no one can deny Ethereum is the hot commodity of this moment. Few people are looking at Bitcoin or Ripple right now, but that type of behavior is nothing new in the cryptocurrency world. The bigger question is whether or not Ethereum has what it takes to dethrone Bitcoin as the world’s leading cryptocurrency. Right now, that is far from the case, but things can evolve rather quickly in the world of cryptocurrency.
Unsurprisingly, most of Ethereum’s trading volume originates from the Bithumb exchange. Although Korean Won-denominated prices are no longer part of the global average, the trading volume is still a valuable metric. Binance is in second place, with GDAX completing the top three. We see three USD trading pairs in the five for Ethereum, indicating a lot of fresh capital is entering the market as we speak. If this trend keeps up, it is only a matter of time until we see an Ethereum price of $1,500 or slightly more.
With the Ethereum price moving up nicely and the currency’s market cap growing steadily, things are looking pretty good for ETH. Although cryptocurrency remains a volatile and unpredictable industry, it is evident this currency will not suddenly disappear whatsoever. If this trend keeps up, Ethereum might effectively rival Bitcoin in terms of market cap one day. Whether or not that would also make it a better currency or store of value, remains unclear at this time.