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The rise in the price of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has propelled digital assets into orbit this year, with the crypto market’s success attracting Wall Street’s attention. The gain in bitcoin’s price, which has increased by about 300 percent in the previous year, has been surpassed by ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by value after bitcoin. Since this time last year, the price of ethereum has increased by 800%.
Now, as those in the cryptocurrency industry try to predict the market’s direction, Goldman Sachs analysts believe ethereum has the potential to eclipse bitcoin in the coming years—but warn that the extreme volatility of cryptocurrency prices means it can’t compete directly with gold as a safe haven asset.
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Billy Bambrough contributed to this article.

Goldman Sachs, a Wall Street heavyweight, has forecast that the price of ethereum will continue to beat the… [+] bitcoin price—possibly displacing bitcoin as the most popular cryptocurrency store of value.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FOR YOU
The ether token is a cryptocurrency created by Ethereum. “At this time, it appears that ethereum, the platform on which it is the native digital currency, is the most popular development platform for smart contract applications,” Goldman Sachs researchers wrote in a note to clients this week, as first reported by Business Insider.
Due to the increasing popularity of so-called decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), both of which are mainly constructed on ethereum’s blockchain, Ethereum has experienced a frenzy of activity on its network over the last 12 months.
DeFi, the idea that traditional financial products can be recreated using crypto technology instead of a bank, has grown to a multi-billion-dollar market this year, while NFTs, which tokenize all kinds of digital assets and media on the blockchain, has attracted the attention of artists, creators, and athletes.
Goldman Sachs is the latest in a long line of investors to recommend ethereum over bitcoin. Last month, the chief investment officer of Two Prime, a $100 million digital asset investment firm, claimed that ethereum would “flip” bitcoin to become the most valuable cryptocurrency.
Bitcoin has a market value of over $600 billion, with a price per coin of $32,000, and ethereum has a market capitalization of around $250 billion, with a price per ether token of $2,100.
CryptoCodex is a free daily email for cryptocurrency enthusiasts. MORE FROM FORBES’We Just Ripped The Pin Out Of The Grenade’-Radical New Bitcoin Company Issues’We Just Ripped The Pin Out Of The Grenade’-Radical New Bitcoin Company Issues’We Just Ripped The Pin Out Of The Grenade’-Radical New Bitcoin Company Issues’We Just Ripped The Pin Out Of The Grena A stern warning about the price of Coinbase has been issued. Billy Bambrough contributed to this article.

The price of bitcoin has risen in recent months, far outstripping its previous bull run in 2017. However, as developers fill the ethereum blockchain, bitcoin’s 2021 rise has been overtaken by the ethereum price.
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Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs warned that the recent competition between bitcoin, ethereum, and a slew of ethereum rivals is worsening volatility and preventing cryptocurrencies from becoming “safe-haven assets” like gold.
“Gold competes with crypto in the same way it competes with other risky assets like equities and cyclical commodities,” the bank’s analysts stated. “Gold serves as a defensive inflation hedge, whereas cryptocurrency serves as a risk-on inflation hedge. Another risk factor preventing cryptocurrencies from becoming safe-haven assets at present time is their rivalry.”
The bitcoin price plummeted from an all-time high of approximately $65,000 per bitcoin established in April as China tightened its grip on cryptocurrencies once more, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk backed away from promises for greater bitcoin integration.
In recent months, the dramatic price drop has wiped out more over $1 trillion from the combined cryptocurrency market capitalization./nRead More

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