Ethereum has changed the definition of altcoins in recent months.
During this bear market, altcoins showed positive momentum.
The multiple upgrades to the ETH blockchain make it the most preferred altcoin.
The majority of cryptocurrency prices. However, altcoins showed positive momentum and regained their bullish trend in a relatively short period of time as compared to BTC.
This indicates that altcoins have a greater potential than bitcoin to cover its losses and resume its upward trajectory. As a result, altcoins, particularly Ethereum, have grown in popularity during the last two years.
So, before we dive deep into the topic, let's understand altcoins. The term "altcoin" is made up of two words: "alternative" and "coin." Altcoins were created to overcome Bitcoin's technical restrictions. Thus, altcoin refers to all currencies other than Bitcoin.
In the crypto market, there are thousands of altcoins, each with its own set of unique features, including its own set of risks and rewards. However, among all altcoins, Ethereum garners more attention due to its unique characteristics and capabilities.
Ethereum, which is a distributed blockchain platform for smart contracts and space-divided applications, was founded in 2013 by Vitalik Buterin. The ETH did not gain much popularity in its early days, but as time passed and the coin showcase its real-world application usage, it became one of the prominent altcoins.
Some real-world use cases of Ethereum include Decentralized Finance (DeFi), payments, data storage, ICOs, NFTs, and so on. However, even after becoming the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, the coin will not stop advancing.
Recently, ethereum has undergone one of the most anticipated upgrades, "The Merge." The merge completely shifted the blockchain network's mechanism from PoW to the PoS model. The merger will cut the Ethereum blockchain's carbon footprint by 99.9%, resulting in speedier transactions and lower fees.
Meanwhile, that’s not it, Vitalik Buterin last month released a new technical roadmap outlining a six-phase upgradation process for the popular open-source blockchain.
Also, in a November 5 tweet, Vitalik announced to conduct Scourge upgrade, followed by the Verge, Purge, and Splurge technical improvements. The process is expected to boost the network's decentralization and censorship resilience.
These constant upgradations and smooth functionalities make ETH the game changer and the most preferred altcoin. However, the ETH price is currently 71% down from its all-time high in November 2021.
Not only ethereum, but other altcoins such as solana, cardano, polygon, and so on, have the potential to transform the crypto industry. For example, networks like Polygon and Kusama have already demonstrated how community-building and diversified blockchain applications are not just for the crypto elites.
Altcoins will undoubtedly see widespread adoption in the crypto realm in the coming years. And for Ethereum, the definition of altcoins may change; presently, altcoins are BTC alternatives, but in the future, it will be recognized as ETH alternatives. Since experts also believe that soon ETH will replace BTC as the world's most valuable currency.
What do you think, will other altcoins attain similar popularity as Ethereum, or will ETH replace BTC and redefine the definition of altcoins? Share your views in the comment section below.
Read also: Movement of ‘Sleeping Bitcoins’ in the Last Four Days
