Based on the year-to-date performance and their drawdown from their all-time highs (ATHs), Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) have performed very similarly. While BTC has risen by 25.5% since the beginning of the year, ETH has climbed by about 27%. From its ATH, Bitcoin has declined by 69.9%, while Ether is down by 68.9%.
Despite this very comparable performance, the debate persists that Ethereum may replace (“flip”) Bitcoin as the largest cryptocurrency by market cap within the next few years or in the next bull cycle.
One supporter of this theory is Dragonfly Capital’s Haseeb Qureshi. In a recent interview, the investment firm’s managing partner said that if any cryptocurrency is ever going to reach $1 trillion, it will be Ethereum.
His reasoning? Institutional investors who need to align buying with their Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) agenda:
You need institutional buyers to be willing to buy this thing in size and Ethereum is really the only game in town if you are an institutional buyer.
Furthermore, the expert expressed that it is becoming increasingly difficult for institutions to justify Bitcoin as an investment.
“I see it a lot because we work a lot with big institutions […]. It’s explicitly something that gets more and more of a concern for them. They want to invest in crypto, but it has to be compliant with their ESG mandate,” Qureshi said.
2. Ethereum is superior to #Bitcoin in the eyes of institutions, as it’s more ESG friendly.
“If you want a trillion dollar coin, you’re not going to get there off the back of retail.”
“Ethereum is really the only game in town if you want institutional buyers.” pic.twitter.com/f2H2gg224T
— Miles Deutscher (@milesdeutscher) January 18, 2023
Another argument made by proponents of the theory is also that Ethereum is predominantly OFAC (US Office of Foreign Assets Control) compliant, which could make it easier for institutions to enter the market.
On the other hand, Bitcoin supporters are likely to counter that the mining industry is one of the most sustainable industries of all. In its latest report, the Bitcoin Mining Council found that the energy mix in Bitcoin mining is now 58.9% sustainable.
Furthermore, estimates suggest that Bitcoin mining can reduce global emissions by up to 8% by 2030, simply by converting the world’s wasted and dangerous methane emissions into emissions that are 80 times less harmful.
Here’s What Ethereum / Bitcoin Technical Analysis Says
A look at the Ethereum / Bitcoin 4-hour chart shows that ETH currently remains in a downtrend compared to BTC. ETH saw a spike above and out of the pennant for the ETH/BTC ratio, followed by a retrace back to support as Bitcoin broke out from $18,000 to $21,000 in a matter of days, as explained by the founder of LedgArt via Twitter.
According to the analyst, these types of fake-out wicks are breaking out to the downside. He argued: “Still expecting this level to break lower over the next several weeks as BTC continues to strengthen, absorbing liquidity from alts similar to what happened in the 2019 bear market rally,” and shared the chart below.
BTC is currently changing hands at $18,798, while ETH is sitting just above the $1,500 support level at $1,528.
Featured image from Kanchanara / Unsplash, Chart from Twitter/TradingView.com