• The high volatility of crypto prices has been at the fore of crypto trends this year, leaving investors skeptical on the market. 
• Ethereum is up by about 230% so far this year, outperforming other major coins for the year. 
• Ethereum has been bullish this year, rising to new levels as a result of its utility and new institutional push. 
• ETH appears to have found its bullish form again amid a crash in crypto prices.

There have been a number of major surprises among cryptocurrencies this year as a result of their volatility. 2021 has witnessed the massive adoption of cryptocurrencies into more private and government institutions. 

Ethereum vs Bitcoin: 2021 Edition

Leading altcoin Ethereum has been on the heels of Bitcoin in terms of market capitalization, and the token isn’t slowing down. As more investors go bullish on Ethereum this year, its market capitalization hit $500 billion, making it the second cryptocurrency to hit that mark.

Though Bitcoin is the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, hitting over $64,000 earlier this year, Ethereum has had the most growth, rising by over 230% to $2,200, while bitcoin’s growth has been below 38%. 

ETH’s Renewed Bullish Trend

Amid the plunge in cryptocurrency prices resulting from the crackdown on cryptocurrency mining and other related activities, Ethereum has achieved a 230% growth period this year. The market price crash saw ETH plunge from a record high of above $4,000 to rest below the $2,000 mark.

Bulls successfully defended the $1700 resistance level this week with the much higher $2000 resistance level set firmly in their sights, marking the birth of a new price rally. 

Bulls were able to push the price up to over $1,800 and on to $1,850. Yesterday, the price surged over $2,000 as the trade price stands at $2,220 at the time of writing. 

This current bullish trend may see the price shoot even higher to $2,500, further reclaiming its lost value. 

ETH to Dominate

Ethereum will dominate the market and experience a major price rally in the coming months. Reaching $4,000 in value exhibits just how much utility the native token of the Ethereum blockchain has in the market. 

With over 3,000 decentralized applications on the Ethereum blockchain, there are no doubts around Ether’s utility as it leads the charge of success stories among smaller cryptocurrencies.

J.P. Morgan Chase and Morgan Stanley, showering praise on the altcoin giant, stated that part of the reasons for Ethereum’s success has been recent institutional adoption and its underlying blockchain. 

ETH 2.0, a network upgrade that will increase its scalability while driving down gas fees, will see transaction speeds on the blockchain increase to over 10,000 transactions per second. 

The Ethereum blockchain has been plagued with scalability issues and ETH 2.0 will solve that problem. The development further promises to boost the price of ETH in the market.

On the Flipside

• Ethereum has lost nearly 50% of its value since touching $4,300 this year. 
• Bitcoin has much wider institutional and national acceptance than Ethereum.

ETH/BTC Price Comparison

ETH started the year strongly at $737, trading at the time of writing at $2,220. Ranked #2 on CoinMarketCap, Ethereum holds a market share of 17.54%, while bitcoin remains the largest cryptocurrency with a market dominance of 46% and a market capitalization of over $600 billion.

Some speculation suggests that, should ETH continue outperforming BTC like it has been so far this year, it will challenge for Bitcoin’s #1 spot. 

At this point last year, Bitcoin was trading at $9,140, as opposed to ETH which traded at a mere $225. Looking back over the years, Bitcoin has had the advantage, but ETH has been on a bullish trend and is looking ever more likely to close in on Bitcoin.