Ethereum versus Bitcoin: Battle of The Heavyweights
With prices of both cryptocurrencies rising smartly these days, the debate is all about valuation. One well-respected Wall Street analyst uses the Facebook model.
The idea is that the value of the network increases exponentially with each additional user. My explanation may oversimplify the issue a bit. The key is that the more Bitcoins and Ether in the hands of spenders, the greater the acceptance of these cryptocurrencies. With more demand and a finite supply, prices go up.
I would like to raise a slightly different question just for fun. At some future date, is it possible for the value of Ether to exceed that of Bitcoin? Here is how I look at it. The present total value of Bitcoin is approximately $175 billion while Ethereum is worth less than half.
Crypto fans agree, the future of both of these two heavy weights is pretty awesome. But they are two different animals. Bitcoin is becoming the Internet of money; Ethereum is the king of blockchain applications.
Regulation Could Make The Difference
A recent article from Pavel Kravchenko who holds a PhD in technical sciences focused on the topic of government (currency) regulations which raised the question: is Bitcoin more likely to be restricted by things like Anti Money Laundry (AML) laws than Ethereum?
Here are a couple of highlights from Pavel’s thoughts on tokenizing assets (a.k.a. cryptocurrencies). There are two major impediments: from a regulatory compliance point of view, the ability for anyone to open an account and then buy or sell a tokenized asset, “is a mess”.
US regulators have defined cryptocurrencies as a security, which means they fall under the rules and jurisdiction of the Securities & Exchange Commission. That is in addition to being subject to US AML rules.
Even now there are EU banks that won’t deal with American citizens. As soon as they accept them as customers, they have to comply with U.S. regulations (regardless of jurisdiction) and that could be very painful since the U.S. has the power to punish violators.
Pavel’s offers a solution. Simply unify AML and Know-Your-Customer (KYC) rules. That sounds perfectly logical but creating a global system agreed upon by 164 countries: good luck. This thorny issues, it seems would have greater impact on Bitcoin as a pure cryptocurrency and one that, so far, has thrived on anonymity.
We recently reported on how the Wolves of Wall Street are also cozying up to Ethereum’s blockchain technology. Four of the biggest firms just completed a six month test of blockchain technology in the nearly $3 trillion market for equity swaps.
The test was deemed a 100% success and was estimated to produce $8 billion in savings when fully implemented.
We can all agree that Bitcoin clearly has the lead in valuation. And most of us agree that the outlook is amazing. But just possibly one day in the not to distant future the gap between Bitcoin and Ether will be much smaller. If you make a close comparison of the price charts you will see it has already started.
It is fair to point out that what is good for Ethereum flows to holders of SilentNotary.
SilentNotary: Free From Regulatory Issues
SilentNotary.com is the worlds first blockchain notary company. Their mission is to build trust and verification in the world.
SN founders are building a new ecosystem for government, business and consumers.
To the Ethereum blockchain platform SN is adding its own patent pending technology Lightstamp. This is where the big savings start.
Everywhere in the world where trust and verification is required, there is a customer.
In the B2B space there are over 60,000 companies in areas like construction, banking, insurance that translates into hundreds of millions of business users. In the B2C space there are 2.3 billion potential users.
The SN team totals more than 14 and growing. More than just code writers with a flashy app, SN consists of financial and legal experts, product designers and marketing specialists. The team has the firepower to deliver.
The ICO
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Please join the team at SilentNotary to restore trust and confidence: welcome aboard!
James Waggoner
