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A new industry report predicts big gains for Bitcoin Cash matched by like declines in Ethereum as 2018 moves through late spring.
Report Expects BCH to Reach $2000 by May
The report titled Cryptocurrencies: Past, Present, and Future in which researchers claim to have used a combination of historical data and a “data-driven algorithm” has resulted in some very optimistic predictions for the near future of Bitcoin Cash while calling for grim times ahead for Ethereum, saying it “will plummet by more than $237 per unit in the next month or so.” as reported by the Express.
2018 has been a rough start for cryptocurrencies across the board as the market feels the repercussions from the success and fears generated by the dramatic rise and fall in prices at the cusp of the new year. Confusion over regulation and warnings that the cryptomarket is an empty bubble have taken their toll on all of the top trading tokens but Ethereum may have suffered the most having lost around 70% of its value since it’s high mark of $1,338.67 in December.
Callum Blanchard a cryptocurrency data specialist for Cryptocurrency: Past, Present, and Future told the UK’s Express newspaper that he wasn’t surprised by the findings saying that though Ether had been one of Bitcoin’s main competitors because of its ability to allow blocks to be created quicker, investors today are looking for more unique features than ever.
“Ethereum originally stood out for allowing ‘blocks’ to be created quicker, but compare that to the likes of Bitcoin Cash, or even for transaction speed – Ripple and Litecoin – and suddenly even that isn’t so unique anymore.”
Bitcoin Cash and Ethereum Serve Different Purposes
What Mr. Blanchard doesn’t consider is that Bitcoin Cash and Ethereum were developed for very different purposes and that comparing them is apples to oranges. While both cryptocurrencies are based on the principle of distributed ledgers and cryptography they use different programming languages, have different block times and use different builds.
More to the point while Bitcoin Cash was created to increase the transaction speed of its predecessor, Bitcoin, so that it could be more readily used as a substitute for cash, ETH was developed as a vehicle to facilitate peer to peer contracts and applications on the Ethereum platform. The main purpose of Ether is not to act as a payment alternative but to enable developers to build and run distributed applications (dApps).
An argument that the success of Bitcoin Cash leads to the continued decline of Ether is a specious comparison even if the two compete for investors in the same market. While those interested in investing in the future of Ethereum will be looking at what unique services are developing for the platform, those buying BCH are looking for a currency that can be used not only to store value but that can be used to buy a cup of coffee as well.
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