{"id":454789,"date":"2022-08-01T07:19:53","date_gmt":"2022-08-01T05:19:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=454789"},"modified":"2022-08-01T07:37:41","modified_gmt":"2022-08-01T05:37:41","slug":"big-ether-surge-revives-flippening-speculation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/cryptocurrency\/454789-big-ether-surge-revives-flippening-speculation.html","title":{"rendered":"Big Ether surge revives “flippening” speculation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bitcoin, the world\u2019s biggest cryptocurrency, has always reigned supreme in the land of digital assets. But now, thanks to an eye-popping surge by Ether, fans of the No. 2 token by market value are reviving predictions that it is destined to one day take over the throne.<\/p>\n

In crypto parlance, it\u2019s known as the \u201cflippening\u201d \u2014 and it\u2019s still likely a ways off, if it happens.<\/p>\n

Ether\u2019s market value of around $210 billion is less than half the size of Bitcoin\u2019s even after Ether surged 50% over the past month.<\/p>\n

And yet, believers are energized with a fresh optimism as a milestone approaches that they say will increase the chances of it happening \u2014 perhaps sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n

\u201cI keep hearing people repeating the question, \u2018wen flippening?\u2019,\u201d Quantum Economics Founder and Chief Executive Officer Mati Greenspan wrote in a note, using the crypto-slang employed by market faithful.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though there\u2019s no guarantee this will ever happen, just looking at the numbers, it does seem like this event is getting closer by the day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boosters of Ethereum have touted the blockchain as a better version of Bitcoin almost since it was conceived by programmer Vitalik Buterin in 2014 and launched a year later.<\/p>\n

Bitcoin\u2019s white paper was unveiled in 2008 and credited to Satoshi Nakamoto, the name used by the presumed pseudonymous individual or group who developed it.<\/p>\n

Ether has\u00a0surged<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0in recent weeks as optimism grows over its long-anticipated software upgrade, which will facilitate a move from the current system of using miners to a more energy-efficient one using staked coins.<\/p>\n

The switch to this so-called proof-of-stake system is expected to take place in September after being kicked down the road for several years.<\/p>\n

Ethereum developers have recently signaled continued progress in testing the new system, and they are holding a series of events for prospective stakers and other community members in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

QCP, a crypto trading shop, said that its desk has traded \u201can incredible amount\u201d of Ether call options over the past days, adding that hedge funds have been large buyers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe expect this demand to continue as we approach the merge in September,\u201d they wrote in a markets update on Telegram.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Support The Flippening\u00a0pic.twitter.com\/h2wl1ncGnA<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 JRNY Crypto (@JRNYcrypto)\u00a0July 23, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Ether has gained roughly 50% since mid-June, and Ethereum-related assets have also advanced. Uniswap, a decentralized crypto exchange that\u2019s most popular on Ethereum, has jumped about 70% over the past month, data compiled by Bloomberg show.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Bitcoin\u2019s dominance has dwindled to around 40% of the market, down from 70% in January of last year,\u00a0according to<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0CoinMarketCap.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do like Ether, and we think it\u2019s a major differentiator,\u201d said Joe DiPasquale, CEO of BitBull Capital, which manages cryptocurrency hedge funds.<\/p>\n

\u201cBitcoin has been the hundred-pound gorilla, but Ether is really the other hundred-pound gorilla.<\/p>\n

Everything else trails behind.\u201d His firm holds Ether and has been buying while the coin was making its climb from $1,000 to $1,500. DiPasquale added to his position last week.<\/p>\n

The flippening \u201cis very possible,\u201d said Bodhi Pinkner, an analyst at crypto asset manager Arca. \u201cWe have a favorable view of Ethereum,\u201d he said, adding that it will, following the Merge, become a deflationary asset.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo that changing dynamic bodes theoretically well for Ethereum\u2019s price relative to Bitcoin, especially in an environment of tightening.\u201d<\/p>\n

To be sure, this is not a new development. Crypto crowds have long looked for signs that Bitcoin\u2019s dominance could diminish as other projects and tokens emerge.<\/p>\n

And while work on the Merge has been going on for years, it\u2019s been delayed many times. It was most recently expected to take place in June, but was delayed once again.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Merge itself is an extremely risky event and any number of things can go wrong,\u201d Quantum\u2019s Greenspan said. \u201cAs always in the markets, higher risk can equate to higher returns. And they don\u2019t call it risk because it\u2019s fluffy and safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Henry Elder, head of decentralized finance at Wave Financial, agrees.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Merge is over-hyped from an ETH price-perspective,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s an incredibly important technological change for Ethereum, but 99.99% of users will experience no difference whatsoever until months or years later. Meanwhile, the impacts of reducing and reallocating issuance will take a while to filter down to ETH prices.\u201d<\/p>\n

He points to Bitcoin\u2019s halving process, which is a pre-programmed update that cuts Bitcoin rewards for miners in half every four years or so. The impact of such an event can also take months to be seen in the market, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t be surprised to see prices pump into the Merge, but I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a sustainable catalyst until the second half of 2023,\u201d Elder said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Now read: South Africa\u2019s plan to regulate cryptocurrencies \u2014\u00a0including tax and exchange controls<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bitcoin, the world\u2019s biggest cryptocurrency, has always reigned supreme in the land of digital assets. But now, thanks to an eye-popping surge by Ether, fans of the No. 2 token by market value are reviving predictions that it is destined to one day take over the throne.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341034,"featured_media":454791,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44696],"tags":[187,43338,42124,80273],"class_list":["post-454789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cryptocurrency","tag-bitcoin","tag-ether","tag-ethereum","tag-the-flippening"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454789"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341034"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=454789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454789\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/454791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}