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 bright spot in all of this is Ethereum. More specifically, the Ethereum price keeps moving up every single day. Moreover, Ethereum’s market cap is now half that of Bitcoin, which is a rather impressive feat.
Ethereum Price Rises yet Again
Very few people had expected to see Ethereum come close to Bitcoin in terms of market cap. Although similar discussions first took place about a year ago, the situation has changed quite a bit 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 US$200 billion and Ethereum’s remaining below US$100 billion. Things have an interesting way of working themselves out in the cryptocurrency world, though.
Alas, the Ethereum market cap is now US$126.67 billion. 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, the Ethereum price was just over US$1,300. This is a very healthy increase from US$880, the price just one week ago. Although there has been some market resistance, Ethereum has been setting new all-time highs nearly all week. Ever since surpassing US$1,000, anything is possible. It’s been a remarkable (and more than welcome) turn of events.
With nearly US$9.5 billion in 24-hour trading volume, no one can deny Ethereum is the hot commodity of the moment. Few people are looking at Bitcoin or Ripple right now, but such a situation 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 current trading volume originates from the Bithumb exchange. Although won-denominated prices are no longer factored into the global average on CoinMarketCap.com, the trading volume is still a valuable metric. Binance is in second place, with GDAX rounding out the top three exchanges. We see three USD trading pairs among Ethereum’s top five, indicating that a lot of fresh capital is entering the market as we speak. If this trend keeps up, it will only be a matter of time until we see an Ethereum price of US$1,500 or slightly higher.
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. If this trend keeps up, Ethereum’s market cap might actually rival that of Bitcoin one day. Whether or not that would also make it a better medium of exchange or store of value remains unclear at this time.
