Bitwise CIO Calls Ethereum The ‘Microsoft Of Blockchains’, Can ETH Make A Comeback?
19 September 2024 - 6:30AM
NEWSBTC
Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan dubbed Ethereum (ETH)
the ‘Microsoft of blockchains’, adding that none of the smart
contract platform’s challenges are existential. Ethereum Has
Challenges, But None Of Them Are Existential In a recent memo
titled ‘A Contrarian Bet on Ethereum’, Hougan highlighted the
tumbling ETH/BTC trading pair, indicating the weakening Ethereum
price versus Bitcoin (BTC). At press time, the trading pair is
exchanging hands at 0.038, its lowest level in three years. Related
Reading: Ethereum-Bitcoin Ratio Breaks 0.04 Barrier: Could Altcoins
Be At Risk? Compared to some of the other leading digital
currencies, ETH hasn’t had an eventful 2024. On a year-to-date
basis, Bitcoin is up 38%, while the rival smart contract platform
Solana (SOL) is up 31%. Binance’s BNB token has surged by 72% in
the same period. However, ETH has remained flat, currently trading
at $2,306. Ethereum’s underperformance in terms of token
price, according to Hougan, has made it ‘cool to hate Ethereum
right now.’ Hougan noted several factors that might risk the
Ethereum ecosystem, including the prospect of Democratic US
presidential candidate Kamala Harris winning the election and
continuing Biden administration’s suspicious attitude toward
everything crypto. In addition, the Bitwise CIO acknowledged the
threats posed by competing blockchain projects, such as Solana,
that offer higher throughput and lower transaction costs. He also
admitted that ETH exchange-traded-funds (ETFs) haven’t had as much
success as Bitcoin ETFs. Although Hougan acknowledged the success
of several Layer-2 solutions such as Base, Arbitrum, and Optimism,
he stressed that their success has pulled so much transaction
volume from Ethereum that its revenues have crashed to a four-year
low. According to Hougan, these reasons are valid but ‘they miss
the broader point.’ Hougan stressed that blockchain applications
witnessing success in user adoption are all dominated by Ethereum,
such as stablecoins and decentralized finance (DeFi). Over 50% of
stablecoins are still issued on the ETH blockchain. Similarly, over
60% of DeFi assets are locked in various ETH-powered
protocols. Hougan Remains Bullish On ETH In the memo, Hougan
mentioned that institutional confidence in Ethereum remains high,
as seen in asset manager BlackRock’s decision to develop a
tokenized money market on Ethereum this year. Similarly, Nike chose
Ethereum to launch its Web 3 gear platform called Swoosh. Related
Reading: Time To Convert Bitcoin To Ethereum? ETH/BTC Charts Gears
Up For 180% Surge He noted: Ethereum has the most active
developers, the most active users, and a market cap that is 5x
bigger than its closest competitor. It’s the only programmable
blockchain that has a modicum of regulatory support in the U.S.,
with a booming regulated futures market and a multi-billion-dollar
ETF market. To bolster his argument, Hougan compared Ethereum to
software juggernaut Microsoft, saying that even though other tech
companies like Google, Zoom, and Slack have offered useful
services, Microsoft continues to be larger than all of them put
together. Concluding, Hougan said that Ethereum’s opportunities are
enormous. As the world inches closer to the November US
presidential elections, the market participants may reevaluate the
second largest cryptocurrency by market cap. At press time, ETH
trades at $2,306, commanding a total market cap of $277 billion.
Featured image from Unsplash, Chart from Tradingview.com
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