A Major Bitcoin Competitor Just Had One Of Its Best Days Ever

Story by: Kyle Torpey

For many crypto asset speculators, Ethereum has long been regarded as the one Bitcoin (BTC) competitor that actually merits any attention. Ethereum is a project focused on more complex smart contracts rather than security through simplicity, and the network’s underlying token, known as Ether (ETH), recently had one of its best days ever relative to the Bitcoin price.

Ether’s more than 10% rise versus the BTC price on Tuesday was covered in digital asset research firm Delphi Digital‘s latest weekly report, which covers Bitcoin and greater cryptocurrency market. In the report, it is noted that Ether’s recent price run does not necesarily mean that altcoins more generally are finally about to experience a turnaround in terms of their BTC-denominated prices. 2018 and 2019 have been the two worst years on record for the prices of the most popular and longest running Bitcoin competitors.

Bitcoin’s Digital Gold Narrative

According to the new report from Delphi Digital, Bitcoin has performed much better than nearly all other crypto assets in 2019 due to the “digital gold” narrative. All of the major altcoins are down heavily against Bitcoin this year, although there are some exceptions such as Binance Coin (BNB) and Chainlink (LINK). LINK gained attention earlier this year when it surpassed 800% gains against the US dollar on a year-to-date basis, although the Ethereum-based token has since come back down to reality.

Global economic events, such as the devaluation of the Chinese yuan and the potential devaluations of many other major fiat currencies around the world, have sparked renewed interest in Bitcoin this year as a decentralized, apolitical alternative to traditional financial assets. These macroeconomic trends have led to various bullish Bitcoin price predictions ranging from $42,000 by the end of 2019 to $100,000 by the end of 2021.

At the same time, U.S. lawmakers are realizing they won’t be able to implement a Bitcoin ban.

Original story: https://tinyurl.com/y3yw7xpy

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