In the world of cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin is king, followed by Ethereum and other such digital assets. However, last night we saw Bitcoin’s splinter currency, Bitcoin Cash, briefly overtake Ethereum to become the world’s second most valuable cryptocurrency.
Early Sunday morning, Bitcoin Cash skyrocketed in value to $2,500 a coin surpassing Ethereum in terms of market capitalization.
Bitcoin Cash, which broke away from the more popular Bitcoin earlier this year, was rising in price until about 2:00 a.m. ET. After that point, its value fell by about $1,000. By about 11:35 a.m, the coin had increased in value to $1,525 a share, but had still fallen below Ethereum’s market capitalization. It should be noted that Bitcoin Cash is still more expensive than Ethereum in terms of individual coins, with the former costing $1,449, compared to the latter’s $311.
Regardless, it was still an impressive rally for a coin that normally goes for about $300-500. Ethereum’s founder Vitalik Buterin took to Twitter to congratulate Bitcoin Cash on the recent surge.
Congrats on this. Seriously. @rogerkver @JihanWu @deadalnix pic.twitter.com/UXYdEcRn4y
— Vitalik Buterin (@VitalikButerin) November 12, 2017
Bitcoin Cash’s surge appears to have cost a slight downturn in the value of its sibling cryptocurrency. On Wednesday, Bitcoin was valued at a high of $7,128, but on Sunday, it fell to $5,512. As of the time of this reporting, Bitcoin is valued at $5,987.
Bitcoin Cash broke away from Bitcoin in August of this year as a means of making cryptocurrencies more accessible to the average consumer. Since then, Bitcoin has continued to lead the way in terms of price and market capitalization, but some experts believe Bitcoin Cash’s rise will continue.
“There were lots of Bitcoin Cash whales who were in early on Bitcoin who were waiting to see what would happen with 2x,” Kyle Samani, of MultiCoin Capital told Forbes. “… They’re dumping BTC for BCH … I know many Bitcoin OGs who have dumped $10m+ of BTC for BCH … Turns out there were a lot more BCH ideologues than we all thought.”
Despite their increased popularity in society, cryptocurrencies are still a bit of a mystery to many people. If you’re interested in learning more about Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies in general, we can help you out.