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Since its release in early 2009, Bitcoin has been the trailblazing leader of the cryptocurrency revolution. Countless imitators have come and gone but Bitcoin remains dominant, despite nearing the current limits of its transactional capacity. Ethereum, created mid-2015, is Bitcoin strongest rival... But can Ethereum deliver on the hype surrounding its complicated technology , as well as recover from the recent spectacular failure of the DAO, usurp Bitcoin primcay?
Bitcoin has more than doubled in price this year alone, but it has been outperformed by its closest rival Ether, which is up over 2,300 percent.
On January 1, bitcoin was trading at the day's high of $1,003.25. On Wednesday, it broke through the $2,300 barrier for the first time to hit a fresh record high of $2,377.32, according to CoinDesk, marking a year-to-date rise of 137 percent.
Ethereum has been designed to support so-called smart contract applications. A smart contract is a computer program that can automatically execute the terms of a contract when certain conditions are met, potentially taking a lot of the human involvement out of completing a deal. Barclays for example, have used a form of this technology to trade derivatives.
Ether is the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, worth around $36 billion, according to Coinmarketcap, below bitcoin's $48.91 billion valuation.
It is difficult for ether to beat bitcoin.Ethereum hits another record high after bitcoin and is now up over 5,000% since the start of the year .
The price of ethereum hit an all-time high on Monday of $407.10 after bitcoin also touched record levels.
Ethereum is up more than 5,000 percent since the start of the year.
Excitement over the potential of the underlying ethereum blockchain technology as well as support from governments is increasing appetite.
Result Date is 6/5/2017
