Bitcoin’s smaller brother Ethereum has been the crypto star of 2020

December 15, 2020 Ciaran Ryan Journalism 0

The Ethereum bubble popped in 2018, but 2020 was the year it came back to life. From Moneyweb.

ETH is volatile and prone to crazy price swings, so take the usual cautions before taking the plunge. Image: Shutterstock

ETH is volatile and prone to crazy price swings, so take the usual cautions before taking the plunge. Image: Shutterstock

Bitcoin may have grabbed the headlines in 2020 with a price gain of 160% for the year to date, but this pales alongside its smaller brother, Ethereum, which clocked up a gain of 344% so far this year.

Bitcoin’s market cap of $355 billion is more than five times that of Ethereum’s $67 billion, showing the huge gap between the crypto market leader and the number two.

Ethereum price in USD

Source: CoinDesk

While bitcoin’s impressive rally in 2020 was driven by Covid-related fears of monetary debasement and growing institutional adoption, ether’s rise came from steady development of the type of ‘smart contracts’ on which its value depends.

About Ciaran Ryan 1324 Articles
The Writer's Room is a curated by Ciaran Ryan, who has written on South African affairs for Sunday Times, Mail & Guardian, Financial Mail, Finweek, Noseweek, The Daily Telegraph, Forbes, USA Today, Acts Online and Lewrockwell.com, among others. In between he manages a gold mining operation in Ghana, and previously worked in Congo. Most of his time is spent in the lovely city of Joburg.