Blockchair Lead Developer: Ethereum May Replace Bitcoin As Top Cryptocurrency

Blockchair Lead Developer: Ethereum May Replace Bitcoin As Top Cryptocurrency

The lead developer of the blockchain search and analytics platform Blockchair claims that Ethereum will likely take the place of Bitcoin as the top cryptocurrency within the next five years.

In a series of tweets, Nikita Zhavoronkov details why he thinks that Bitcoin’s (BTC) lack of smart contracts, new privacy features, and scaling solutions will finally lead the number one coin to the dead end.

He says Ethereum (ETH), currently the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, will most likely outperform BTC, although other digital assets may also take the top position in the crypto market.

Zhavoronkov speaks about Ethereum 2.0 which is designed to significantly improve Ethereum’s transaction speed and volume with a proof-of-stake system, as the potential turning point.

“Now, where does Bitcoin stand today? It’s been 5 (five!) years since the scaling debate has started (an eternity!). And instead of having another round of the debate, we can now draw some conclusions on what happens if there’s no on-chain scaling… If Bitcoin further stagnates while other cryptos flourish, the dominance will continue to drop. And now comes the biggest potential disaster for Bitcoin. Imagine, PoS on Ethereum is finally ready and everyone will rush to buy 32 ETH to stake (quite a probable scenario).”

The long-awaited ETH 2.0 upgrade will launch in a series of steps. The initial release, called pahse 0, is expected at the end of this year or early next year, according to testnet coordinator Afri Schoedon.

Zhavoronkov says anyone who does not believe that Ethereum can surpass Bitcoin should look at the history of the internet and understand just how volatile and wild the crypto market really is:

“General media will start talking about Ethereum, they will report Ethereum price instead of Bitcoin. Bitcoin will instantly become fool’s gold taking its place near Litecoin and Dogecoin. A historical relic like ARPANET, Myspace, or AltaVista… In order to overthrow Bitcoin, Ethereum needs to grow just 6x compared to Bitcoin. Not at all an impossible scenario (we’re in crypto, remember?).”