Since the impressive Bullish market across many of the cryptocurrencies we have seen two outliers really set themselves apart from the rest. Though I doubt anyone was surprised by this, Ethereum (ETH) and Bitcoin (XBT) saw some truly staggering growth and resilience during this time. While Bitcoin’s price is about ten times that of Ethereum, Ethereum’s pace of growth could leave Bitcoin in the dust.

First to market gets the crown, may not keep it

Bitcoin is king. We all know this. However, the security of its reign may not be as untouchable as it once appeared.

In the past, no one thought that Bitcoin may ever be anything but top dog among cryptocurrencies. One of the reasons for this is that it was first to market with the idea of the Blockchain. In fact, many of the first altcoins were either direct clones of the coin or heavily inspired by the technology backing up Bitcoin.

It was the original, it is the most widely accepted of the cryptocurrencies, and it has the most brand recognition associated with it. But even all of this may not secure Bitcoin’s crown as the king -or queen- of crypto forever. Coins need to fight and stay competitive to not only stay in power, but also to stay relevant.

Innovation in fighting

While Bitcoin is the originator of the Blockchain and thus it has already left an impression of its innovation for the foreseeable future, some users and traders feel that it is not keeping pace innovation wise with some of its main competitors. Most will cite Ethereum as the main threat to Bitcoin’s hegemony.

This is because Ethereum is one of the most innovative Blockchain solutions that is available to the market right now. Ethereum made a name for itself in innovation from the start. Since then, many ICOs have tokens that are associated with Ethereum and its smart contract system means it can do more that Bitcoin currently can.

Many investors and traders have taken notice of this and have begun buying into Ethereum. This, coupled with its track record of innovation have given Ethereum the gas for a truly staggering bull run. At the time of writing this article, it is closing in on $400 a token.

While Bitcoin is innovative and has incredible potential to expand that innovation, it currently is not competing as well against Ethereum in that regard. I believe that a lot of this has to do with the in-fighting that exists in the Bitcoin community. As many of you are well aware, there is an extremely divisive debate raging in the Bitcoin community now. And it is

All of the community agrees that something needs to be done about the crippling speed and transaction fee issues, but no one can seem to agree with how to address this.

While I think it is important to have well rounded discussions and challenging discourse in communities, what we have now in the Bitcoin community seems counter productive. I enjoy holding both ETH and XBT so I want to see both of them do well, but I worry that Bitcoin may be blinding itself to its competition by lack of compromise -on both sides- in this argument.

Bitcoin may be entering the phase where it needs to decide which is more important, being right or staying King.

Disclaimer: This is not trading or investing advice, but rather an op/ed. If you liked this article, follow us on Twitter @themerklenews and make sure to subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest bitcoin, cryptocurrency, and technology news.