After a surge, Bitcoin's position as the leading digital currency is in jeopardy

Bitcoin's 100% surge has sparked an investment boom in alternative cryptocurrencies, but it may also be its own death knell.

According to statistics from Coinmarketcap.com, in the past three months, Bitcoin's share of the cryptocurrency market has dropped from 90% to less than 50%, while Ethereum (ETH) has quadrupled in the same period, accounting for 25% of the market share.

Ethereum (ETH), a cryptocurrency that uses more advanced technology, has increased 15 times in three months to $230.

Some media even claimed:

“Make way, Bitcoin. The new digital token is winning the hearts and wallets of cryptocurrency enthusiasts around the world.”

Newer, Faster, Safer

The rise of Bitcoin has allowed the market to discover blockchain technology, and its application potential beyond currency is even greater.

Olaf Carlson-Wee, CEO of cryptocurrency hedge fund Polychain Capital, believes that by the end of 2018, the market value of digital currencies associated with the ethereum network will surpass that of bitcoin.

“We think the Ethereum network is a richer, more organic developer ecosystem. It’s very fast. That’s why the price of ether has risen so quickly, and it’s actually more aggressive than Bitcoin.”

Gold Headlines previously mentioned that Bitcoin blockchain technology has problems such as a limit on the number of transactions per second (7 transactions) and hard forks.

Unlike Bitcoin, which focuses on payments, Ethereum, which was launched in 2015, was designed from the beginning to be used in various distributed application scenarios such as medical care and offshore fishing.

Wall Street Journal previously mentioned that investors pay attention to Bitcoin more because of the application of the "blockchain" technology behind it, rather than just its investment price.

Carlson-Wee said:

“We’re definitely still in the blockchain infrastructure build-out phase, but I think within one to two years we’ll start to see the first viral user-facing blockchain applications.”