Bitcoin to lose 50 percent of its cryptocurrency market share to Ethereum: Analyst

Ian McLeod, a business analyst and co-founder of blockchain-based firm Thomas Crown Art, said that Bitcoin might lose half of its market share to Ethereum in the next five years. Thomas Crown Art offers a solution for artists and art collectors that turns art into a secure blockchain wallet, which can be used as a literal “store of value”. The analyst's prediction comes despite the recent dip in the prices of most major coins, with Ethereum's value dropping nearly 90 percent so far this year. According to the analyst, the price of ETH has bottomed out and will experience a rapid reversal as the utility of its immutable ledger grows. “Not only do we think it will rebound considerably before the end of 2018, I believe that over the longer time it will significantly dent Bitcoin’s dominance,” McLeod wrote to MarketWatch in an email. “In fact, I think we can expect Bitcoin to lose 50 percent of its cryptocurrency market share to Ethereum, its nearest rival, within five years.” This appears to be quite a bold claim, especially since ETH prices have slumped from nearly $1,500 to below $200 in under 12 months. McLeod said that the digital asset offers more than Bitcoin.“It has allowed us to create a system to use artworks as a literal store of value. It also solves authenticity and provenance issues—essential in the world of art. All our works of art are logged on the Ethereum’s blockchain with a unique ‘smART’ contract” he said. “Unless Bitcoin does more now to tackle scalability issues, and improves the technology it runs on, we cannot see how it can catch up with Ethereum over the next five years or so, when the crypto market will be even more mainstream,” he added. McLeod went on to say that the issues plaguing Ethereum are nothing compared to what Bitcoin will face in the future. “Ethereum is already light years ahead of Bitcoin in everything but price—and this gap will become increasingly apparent as more and more investors jump into crypto,” he added. See also: Bancor, Ethereum’s DApp expands to EOS, names it BancorX Ethereum network may not be strongly correlated with ETH’s diminishing value: report Image via Shutterstock Join our Telegram group