In the midst of the impending Ethereum London hard split, Pantera Capital CEO Dan Morehead claimed that the forthcoming software update will probably help Ether (ETH) overtake Bitcoin (BTC) as the most valuable cryptocurrency. Morehead stated at the Reuters Global Markets Forum on Monday that Ether, as a younger cryptocurrency, has higher scope than Bitcoin, adding that the recent Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 1559 update would allow the cryptocurrency to behave very much like a fixed asset.
EIP 1559, one of five EIPs included in the ETH London overhaul, is an expected change to Ethereum’s current pricing system, establishing a minimum payment for transmitting Ethereum transactions and deviating from a bidding mechanism that enables miners to favor the top bids.
The EIP 1559 update, which is engineered to automatically modify charges for users to pay minimum bid for every block, has the capability to transform Ether into a deflationary asset.
“You’ll witness a movement of individuals who would like to hold money being in Ether instead of simply Bitcoin,” Morehead said, noting that the cryptocurrency’s migration to Ethereum 2.0 would substantially decrease Ether’s mining electricity consumption relative to Bitcoin’s. He believes that Ethereum’s widespread use in decentralized financial applications will help it become larger than Bitcoin.
Despite forecasting a successful future for Ether, Morehead remains hopeful about Bitcoin’s continued development. According to the CEO, Bitcoin will trade between $80,000 and $90,000 by the end this year, increasing to more than $120,000 in a year. According to Morehead, rising popular acceptance may push Bitcoin’s price above $700,000 within the next ten years.
Ether, which was introduced in 2015, is the second most valuable cryptocurrency, having a market valuation of $290 billion while writing this article. The Ethereum London, which is scheduled to start on Wednesday, is one of the most significant Ethereum overhauls intended to transition its blockchain from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake, which means that the infrastructure will depend mostly on staking rather than mining. Bitcoin, which debuted in 2009, is based on the PoW consensus mechanism.
Morehead isn’t the only one who believes Ethereum will outshine Bitcoin in the foreseeable. In late June, Mike Novogratz, founder and CEO of crypto investment company Galaxy Digital, claimed that Ether may become the “foremost cryptocurrency one day.”