thecryptobasic.com
Harvard computer science engineer Austin King, co-founder of the Omni Foundation, made bold predictions regarding the future of Ethereum and XRP.
In a recent interview on the Good Morning Crypto podcast, he suggested that XRP could soon overtake Ethereum in market cap. According to King, “Honestly, Ethereum is not in a good place.”
He pointed out that, as a long-time developer with experience in both the Ethereum and XRP ecosystems, he does not believe Ethereum can sustain its market dominance moving forward.
Among the factors influencing his bold perspective of XRP flipping Ethereum is the network’s recent struggles. This has led him to question Ethereum’s ability to maintain its position as a leading asset.
Ethereum Struggles with Inflation and Centralization
Specifically, King pointed out that Ethereum had a fantastic opportunity as the first large-scale deflationary network. Not only was its supply finite, like Bitcoin’s, but there was actually less Ethereum every month.
“This was super cool because it was literally a deflationary currency. That’s not the case anymore,” he said.
According to King, Ethereum started externalizing activity to Layer 2 solutions, most of which are run on a single computer. He argued that these Layer 2 solutions are not decentralized networks, which he believes erodes Ethereum’s credibility as a decentralized, deflationary asset. He said:
“Now, my background is in computer science. I studied at Harvard, did a lot of engineering in my first company. My engineering brain does not see a path for Ethereum to become deflationary again.”
Furthermore, King noted that Ethereum’s inflationary shift, combined with a lack of clear development, has left many industry insiders bearish about the asset’s prospects.
This perception has contributed to Ethereum’s lackluster price action in recent months. While Bitcoin trades in price discovery, Ethereum has yet to surpass its previous peak.
XRP Emerges as a Serious Contender
King pointed out that, based on current market trends, XRP and Solana (SOL) are serious contenders for surpassing Ethereum in market capitalization.
XRP, in particular, has maintained its position as a robust, deflationary asset with a clear use case in tokenized assets and cross-border payments. While XRP’s total supply of 100 billion tokens cannot increase, it bears mentioning that Ripple typically releases a net sum of 200 million XRP from this supply into circulation each month.
Further, King added that XRP’s technological framework uniquely positions it in the race for dominance. He believes XRP, with its more efficient infrastructure, could ultimately replace Ethereum as the market’s second-largest asset.
Currently, XRP stands as the main challenger to Ethereum’s position, having risen by approximately 580% in the last three months. During this time, XRP attempted to set a new all-time high, while Ethereum has largely remained stagnant.
At present, XRP has a market cap of $140 billion, while Ethereum remains far ahead at $322 billion.
However, should XRP see another 145% price surge from its current position of $2.44, its price would hit $6. This price would be sufficient to overtake Ethereum at its current valuation.