Bitcoin vs Ethereum Can End One of Two Ways
The funny thing about technology is that you never quite know where it leads. I’m sure that Satoshi Nakamoto (the mysterious founder of Bitcoin) had no idea what his creation would spawn, much less that it would one day be threatened by another cryptocurrency: Ethereum.
That’s what makes the Bitcoin vs Ethereum debate so fascinating. There are millions of dollars at stake; millions to be made; millions to be lost…and the story is unfolding in real time.
You can be sure that some people will come out of this richer than they ever imagined, but they need to sort the wheat from the chaff. Part of that process, however, is to consider what the endgame is for Ethereum vs Bitcoin. Here are the two sides of the argument.
1. Ebony and Ivory
Some people believe that Bitcoin and Ethereum will live together in perfect harmony, operating in the middle of a vibrant market for altcoins. It would look a lot like the market for fiat currencies, and there would be enough room for both cryptocurrencies to thrive, because consumers would rotate between them.
For instance, a rise in the British pound doesn’t eviscerate the Canadian dollar. It affects the exchange rate, to be sure, but we’re not worried it’ll wipe out the Canadian dollar and leave everyone in Canada reliant on the Pound Sterling. That would obviously never happen. Some people believe Ethereum and Bitcoin will strike a similar balance, but that Bitcoin would achieve a status similar to the U.S dollar. It would become the reserve currency of this hypothetical world.
2. Winner-Takes-All
One must live, the other must die. If that notion is intuitive, it’s because we’ve seen it play out on the stock market. Look at Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) and Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR). Both entered the market around the same time. One more than tripled its share price, while the other lost more than half of its market cap. Or take Google and online search. Or Amazon and e-commerce. Stock markets are plastered with these examples, so it’s no wonder that we imagine that cryptocurrency markets will exhibit similar behavior. In this example, Ethereum is more likely to emerge the victor. It is simply more versatile than Bitcoin, more generalized, and more practical.
So will Ethereum pass Bitcoin? Which is likely to come out on top in the Bitcoin vs. Ethereum debate? It depends on which side of this argument you fall on.
If you agree with Number 1, then Bitcoin (along with a collection of emerging altcoins) is your best bet. But if you think Bitcoin vs Ethereum is a winner-takes-all scenario, then Ethereum is the one. Below are a few examples of how Ethereum would dominate.
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Gaurav S. Iyer is a research analyst and editor at Lombardi Financial. He currently writes for Profit Confidential where he focuses on macroeconomics and capital markets.