Bitcoin has made tremendous gains with its value rising by over 2000 percent in the year 2017. Even though Ethereum has grown twice as much as Bitcoin but since Bitcoin had more monetary value in the market, it took up all the headlines with its tremendous growth in a short span of time.

Ethereum may have gone overshadowed by bitcoin but the fact is that its value has also grown by 5000 percent in the same year! And with its current growth statistics, some experts have claimed that Ethereum will soon take over Bitcoin’s place as the world’s leading cryptocurrency.

Ethereum started at just $8 in value at the start of 2017. It is now entering 2018 with a value close to $500, although that’s nothing compared to the $16,000 value of Bitcoin, Ethereum’s growth roughly translates to a 5000 percent growth in 2017. If the growth rate is the criteria set for comparison, then Ethereum clearly wins.

Ethereum makes use of a blockchain which is a database maintained by over a thousand individuals instead of just one central administrator. According to Coindesk: “In short, Ethereum wants to be a ‘World Computer’ that would decentralize – and some would argue, democratize – the existing client-server model.” With Ethereum, servers and clouds are replaced by thousands of so-called ‘nodes’ run by volunteers from across the globe (thus forming a ‘world computer’).

Next year, both cryptocurrencies will have futures being traded on Wall Street. Many believe that this will cause their values to rise even more but the main concern everyone has is this; Is this a bubble? If it’s a bubble then their values mean nothing because after some time it will eventually burst, and these cryptocurrencies will no longer have any value. Longevity is what people seek so that cryptocurrencies can act like gold as means of storing wealth.

Many experts believe that Ethereum will reach new heights soon, as a lot of positive progress is happening in the Ethereum environment at the moment. Currently, the price of Ethereum is due to the increasing trend of Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) where companies, most startups give out digital currencies in exchange for money to use as an investment. Most of this is done using Ethereum, thus with the increasing popularity of ICOs the more popular Ethereum will become as well.

To invest in ICOs, one must primarily use either Bitcoin or Ethereum. However, ICOs have had a much more significant impact on the price of Ethereum instead of Bitcoin. With Bitcoin becoming more expensive, Ethereum is becoming the primary way to invest in ICOs and now with the growing popularity of ICOs, its demand will likely increase a lot which will result in Ethereum’s growth as well in the future.

Regarding Ethereum’s potential, Serafin Lion Engel, CEO of DataWallet says that Ethereum not only has the potential to act as the outlet for the era of the decentralized internet but it also has the potential to become a public outlet through which contact between customers and decentralized apps is formed. Trevor Koverko, CEO of Polymath, says: “Ethereum has one advantage that distinguishes it from all other tokens including Bitcoin: An unstoppable network effect.”

Though Ethereum may have its advantages that Bitcoin doesn’t seem to have, but whether its Bitcoin or Ethereum: people are skeptical about how long they will last. Nothing can be said with certainty with this point as both digital currencies continue to grow at alarming rates.

People require stability from their currencies, only then they can act as a store of value, it this all turns out to be a bubble then a lot of money will go down the drain once it pops.