ETH vs BTC: Market Cap Conditions for the Flippening to Happen
The crypto industry has had its ups and downs. Being extremely volatile, cryptocurrencies have been pretty affected by every bearish period and found their way back on the line during bullish times.
Still, Bitcoin has remained the first cryptocurrency in the world, even though it went down to less than $15,000 from its all-time high of almost $70,000. At the same time, Ethereum reached almost $5,000 and then went down to a little over $1,000.
And yet, the biggest idea crypto investors are thinking about is whether the Flippening will actually happen and when it will happen. This has been a widely spread topic for the past years, and it seems that crypto enthusiasts will not stop wondering if the Flippening is going to happen until they get a clear answer and clearer facts.
But for Ethereum to overtake Bitcoin, the market cap of the former has to change. Thus, let’s talk about that and what exactly should change in the crypto market in order for the Flippening to happen.
ETH vs BTC — What is the Flippening?
The term “flippening” was introduced shortly after Bitcoin and Ethereum became popular. In the crypto industry, the Flippening describes the possibility of Ethereum overtaking Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, and get a higher market cap. Of course, this term can be used for more tokens, but it still is intensively used for the Bitcoin-Ethereum pair.
Over the years, many crypto enthusiasts discussed the possibility of Ethereum, the 2nd largest cryptocurrency, overtaking Bitcoin. According to some experts, this event is almost inevitable, and it is more a matter of “when” than “if”.
For the Flippening to happen, the market cap of Ethereum should overtake the one of Bitcoin. In the crypto industry, the market cap is one of the most important insights about cryptocurrencies. The market cap of a cryptocurrency is represented by the total number of coins or tokens in circulation multiplied by the price of one coin or token.
Thus, if Ethereum’s price surpasses Bitcoin’s over time, the Flippening happens in no time. Also, if the number of ETH in circulation exceeds the circulating supply of BTC, the outcome is the same. Now, the question is how much should ETH’s price or market cap increase for the Flippening to happen? Let’s talk based on the 2 cryptocurrencies’ evolution.
ETH Market Cap to Surpass BTC
Bitcoin All-Time High
Bitcoin reached its all-time high of $68,789.63 in November 2021. At that time, Ethereum also hit its all-time high of $4,891. At that moment, Bitcoin had a market cap of $1,278,797,895,528, while Ethereum’s market cap was $568,92 billion.
So, if it was for the flippening to take place in those bullish market conditions from November 2021, Ethereum would have had a price of over $10,629.22 with BTC’s market cap.
Current Market Conditions
At the moment of writing, Ethereum has a price of around $1,903.60, with a market cap of $228,541,931,635. Bitcoin, on the other hand, has a price of $27,927 and a market cap of $540,685,183,980.
With the current market conditions, ETH would reach a price of over $4,492.14 if it would get Bitcoin’s market cap.
What can cause Ethereum’s dominance?
It is pretty easy to note that while they are both cryptocurrencies and have some things in common, Bitcoin and Ethereum are still extremely different. Given The Merge, when Ethereum switched from PoW (Proof of Work) to PoS (Proof of Stake), the world’s 2 largest cryptocurrencies managed to differ from one another even more.
Now, it is not news that Ethereum’s smart contracts system is widely used in the crypto industry. While Bitcoin revolutionized the entire financial field and brought a new concept to the table, Ethereum took the new concept and made it significantly better over time.
Lower energy consumption, NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens), and smart contracts, all of these are mainly managed by Ethereum. Furthermore, let’s not forget the tremendous number of Dapps built on the Ethereum blockchain.
Thus, Ethereum seems to be widely used in the crypto space, and with significant updates and upgrades, the world’s 2nd largest cryptocurrency may overtake Bitcoin, the 1st cryptocurrency developed, which currently is the largest in the world. As we mentioned before, the Flippening is a matter of “when” rather than an “if” and experts do believe that the massive change in the crypto industry might happen sooner than most of us think.
Still, the Flippening strongly depends on crypto-related regulations, and lately, it seems that various financial institutions do not want the Flippening to happen. Furthermore, their regulations seem to aim at the whole crypto industry, not solely on Ethereum and Bitcoin. Thus, whether the Flippening will happen in the near future or not is still a question that is answered with great levels of uncertainty.
Final Thoughts
Bitcoin and Ethereum are the world’s largest cryptocurrencies, with Bitcoin being the first and Ethereum following it pretty closely. Still, ever since the 2 cryptocurrencies became popular, many crypto enthusiasts had one question: will ETH surpass BTC?
Many experts believe that the Flippening is inevitable, but ETH still has to reach a market cap over BTC’s level, which is no easy task.
However, the Flippening is bound to happen if Ethereum keeps on upgrading its ecosystem, as the world’s 2nd largest cryptocurrency is widely used and brings significant crypto updates to the table.