For many years, Bitcoin and Litecoin were the top cryptocurrencies on the market, long known as digital gold and silver, especially by those who traded them in the late 2000s. As the years went on, Litecoin was losing relevance, but Bitcoin, whose value was beginning to explode in the market, other alternative cryptocurrencies, called Altcoins, began to appear, competing with it but, in some way, led by Bitcoin itself.
That is to say; a phenomenon occurred that, until now, is still common, that when Bitcoin is on the rise, the rest of the cryptocurrencies rise with it, in the same way when the price of “digital gold” falls, the Altcoin also falls. However, at present, things seem to have changed, at least a little, since, while Bitcoin remains at historically low prices, other cryptocurrencies have taken center stage, and Ether, the cryptocurrency that uses the Ethereum blockchain, executed a movement which, in the future, could make Bitcoin’s leadership fall behind.
The “Merge” was successful.
Ethereum, the blockchain that hosts Ether and other cryptocurrencies called “altcoins,” recently completed one of the most important operations in its history, the so-called “merge”, in which its two networks, called Ethereum 1.0 and 2.0, merged into one, replacing the proof-of-work of Ethereum 1.0, by the proof-of-stake of version 2.0
This action has been called by many, including Vitalik Buterin himself, co-founder of the company that launched Ethereum on the market, as a step in the right direction and as a revolution in the crypto world. Although Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies fell 10% on average upon completion of the merge, the event was classified as a success, and millions of people were prevented from losing their money invested in Ether.
Ether is currently available for purchase on many exchanges, including some that offer up to 100x leverage, and the market is currently in a buying period. The recommendation, however, is to buy long-term, as volatility is expected to grow after the Merge for a while, until proof-of-stake mining stabilizes and, so to speak, miners adapt to change.
How will Bitcoin respond?
Unlike Ether, of which we all know who is responsible, no one really knows who is behind the creation of Bitcoin. However, there are people behind the cryptocurrency, and updates to the blockchain keep coming out, making it safer and more efficient, in addition to the Halving process, by which, from time to time, the amount of reward to miners is reduced by half.
Currently, it is not known what will be the next step for Bitcoin to continue being the market leader or if, in the future, the network will adopt the proof-of-stake, although it is most likely that the cryptocurrency will continue with the model of proof-of-work, which has worked pretty well for them so far.
Either way, it is unlikely that Bitcoin will cease to be the leading cryptocurrency in the market, even after Ether manages to stabilize after the slump caused by the Merge. It is also unclear when the bullish cycle of Bitcoin will restart, which, despite showing several signs of recovery, has not managed to recover after the collapse at the beginning of the year.
