Get email alerts How cryptocurrency ethereum looks set to overtake bitcoin — in one chart Ethereum’s market cap closes in on bitcoin’s as fans watch for ‘The Flippening’ Ethereum appears poised to steal bitcoin’s crypto crown.Just as Wall Street is paying more attention to bitcoin, a rival is increasingly threatening to become the top dog among cryptocurrencies.Ethereum’s market capitalization is nearing bitcoin’s, as shown in the chart below from CoinMarketCap.As of Wednesday, bitcoin BTCUSD, +0.33% (shown in orange on the chart) accounted for 39% of the combined market capitalization for all cryptocurrencies, down sharply from 87% on Feb.Blame the erosion on ethereum (shown in purple), which now makes up 31% of the total market cap, up from just 5% less than four months ago.If ethereum’s market cap overtakes that of bitcoin, then “The Flippening” will have happened.That is the term that many people are using to refer to that shift, according to a post at the Flippening Watch blog.

Bitcoin’s market cap on Wednesday was around $45 billion and its price was just below $2,800, according to data from CoinDesk and CoinMarketCap.Ethereum’s market cap recently stood at $36 billion and its price at around $390.Read more: Cryptocurrencies top $100 billion in market capitalization Don’t miss: 3 reasons why bitcoin’s surge may not be a bubble By some metrics, ethereum already has eaten bitcoin’s lunch.It has “almost five times as many nodes in its network as bitcoin, meaning more people are using their computers to support it,” a Motherboard report notes.Ethereum also has more transactions per day, the report adds.Check out: Ethereum has soared — but is it ready for prime time?But some traders remain skeptical of ethereum: Screenshot pulled from a local #Ethereum $ETH Meetup page.~100 RSPV's for this week.'/4Q8O7N87Nh— TheAbider (@McBairdy) June 13, 2017 In the screenshot in the above tweet, ICO refers to an initial coin offering, a new way to raise money.

One startup reportedly raised nearly $150 million this week via an ICO.As their prices have soared, cryptocurrencies increasingly have attracted the attention of Wall Street’s analysts.A Goldman Sachs technical analyst issued a bearish take on bitcoin earlier this week, leading the Zero Hedge financial blog to quip that “probably means that bitcoin is set to make new all-time highs shortly.” Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley analysts have predicted that cryptocurrencies will not rally that much more unless they get “governmental acceptance,” including more regulations.The crypto-currency industry has been watching closely a recent hard fork on the Ethereum blockchain, a smart contract project that has received praise from the world’s biggest technology firms and banks.Now, an alternative version of the Ethereum blockchain, dubbed Ethereum Classic, has taken the crypto-world by storm… Ethereum Classic, which many top crypto-currency enthusiasts dismissed as a scam or knockoff, has morphed into a meaningful blockchain project with a higher trading volume than ethereum itself.

Ethereum Classic is listed on top crypto-currency exchanges and more service providers are adopting the new alternative blockchain, possibly with an eye towards introducing new services.bitcoin casino no deposit bonus 2017 usaDemand for Ethereum Classic arose after the DAO – Ethereum’s $150 “decentralized” fundraising vehicle – was hacked for $56 million in funds.bitcoin investors twinsAlthough marketed as an Ethereum “decentralized autonomous organization”, Ethereum developers immediately called for a hard fork to undo the hack.bitcoin chargebackThat hard fork took place last week.bitcoin pool profitability

In its wake, a new blockchain project  - Ethereum Classic – highlighted a recently sparked theory of crypto-currencies: a crypto-decentralist theory.bitcoin shenzhenThat is, a group of people who opposed the Ethereum hard fork did something about their opposition.bitcoin bid wallThey started their own coin.bitcoin hnSome of the creators and participants behind Ethereum Classic say they’re opposed to the Ethereum hard fork.bitcoin bingo sitesThus, they elected to launch their own chain following the history of the old, compromised Ethereum chain.bitcoin salt lake cityThey don’t mind that, theoretically, the one player hacked the DAO and controls $56 million in ether classic – heck, maybe some see that player as an asset to the chain.

Regardless, Ethereum Classic (ETC) has seen its volume skyrocket.Ethereum buy and sell orders on Poloniex: Ethereum Classic buy and sell orders on Poloniex: Vitalik Buterin has commented that a new blockchain using the Ethereum code is welcomed, but ETC continues to eat away at ETH volume.The market cap of ETC is more than $235 million.Since ETC’s introduction on July 26, the volume of ETH has declined from a $1.2 billion market to approximately $950,000,000 million.Over the past 24 hours, volume in ETC is nearly four times that of ETH’s volume on popular crypto-currency exchange Poloniex.Ethereum’s Bitcoin volume on popular crypto-currency exchange Poloniex: Ethereum Classic Bitcoin volume on Poloniex: That success has only led to increasing press coverage, and inspiration for this contingent of the Ethereum industry to maintain its chain based off the old Ethereum history, including the $56 million hack.Though, that isn’t always a recipe for success.The volume on Dogecoin, the digital currency which propelled the Jamaican bobsled team to the Olympics, has not meaningfully increased in quite some time.