Market intelligence firm Glassnode says leading digital asset Bitcoin (BTC) has been usurped as the best indicator of the crypto industry’s momentum.
In a new analysis, Glassnode co-founders Jan Happel and Yann Allemann note that leading smart contract platform Ethereum (ETH) appears to be the crypto market’s new benchmark.
“Looking back to the time since 2021, we can see a trend of Bitcoin losing its position as the key driver behind the crypto space, especially when comparing the performance between Bitcoin, Ethereum, and the top 20 traded coins.”
The Glassnode co-founders also say that ETH could become more appealing to blue-chip investors after it transitions into a proof-of-stake blockchain later this year.
“Ethereum has come back to the forefront, as news of a successful merge on the Kiln testnet made the estimated June merge (meaning the transition to proof-of-stake) much more realistic.
This transition, if successful, will make Ethereum much more attractive to institutional investors following ESG (environmental, social, and governance) mandates; it will also lead to a massively reduced supply as ETH will turn into a deflationary asset.”
Developers expect Kiln to serve as the final public testnet before ETH converts to a proof-of-stake mechanism, according to the Ethereum Foundation.
Happel and Allemann told their 52,100 Twitter followers in late March that ETH looked stronger than Bitcoin “from a fee perspective.”
Ethereum is trading at $3,458.25 at time of writing. The second-largest crypto asset by market cap is up more than 31% in the past month.
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