Does Ethereum’s utility make it better than Bitcoin?

• Ethereum’s numerous use cases may have made it a better project than Bitcoin, according to a market player.
• Regardless, activity on the Bitcoin network outshone Ethereum.

The debate about which asset is better between Ethereum [ETH] and Bitcoin [BTC] took another turn on 6 September. This time, it was Dr. Julian Hosp, CEO of CAKE Group, on the side of the second-largest blockchain.

Realistic or not, here’s ETH’s market cap in BTC terms

Utility means first place

Hosp, who was responding to a post by Michael Saylor, said that Ethereum does whatever Bitcoin does, only better. While admitting that Bitcoin may have paved the way for the entire ecosystem, Ethereum’s utility places it ahead of the others.

When Bitcoin was invented, its main goal was to serve as a payment gateway that had no centralized interference. And it has been able to achieve that while serving as a tool for remittances and international payments. 

Also, BTC’s performance over the years has proven that it may be a good asset serving as a store of value. Ethereum, on the other hand, has expanded beyond its initial fundamentals. 

Now, the Vitalik Buterin-led project is the foundation of a growing Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ecosystem while offering use cases across other sectors. This growth and more could be the reason the digital assets’ investment head believes that Ethereum is better than Bitcoin.

However, this is not the first time that ETH and BTC maxis have tried to prove who is better. For a long time, Bitcoin maximalists, like Saylor and Max Keiser, have criticized Ethereum, noting that the project would not be able to beat the market cap of Bitcoin.

While Bitcoin’s market cap is still far ahead of Ethereum, the latter had

BTC is ahead of ETH here

According to Santiment, active addresses on the Bitcoin network from January 2023 until press time reached 18.03 million. Meanwhile, Ethereum only had 5.79 million active users on the blockchain within the same timeframe.

Source: Santiment

For context, active addresses measure the number of unique addresses involved in transactions daily. An increase in the metric suggests a rise in crowd interaction. A decrease, on the other hand, implies speculation around an asset is waning. 

How much are 1,10,100 BTCs worth today?

Therefore, the difference in active addresses between both projects meant that transactions on Bitcoin were far superior to Ethereum at the time of publication. Regardless of numerous opinions about BTC and ETH, the former 365-day performance has well outclassed the latter.

At the time of writing, BTC’s value has increased by 33.04% over the last year. Meanwhile, ETH, which exchanged hands at $1,635, was almost at the same value it was one year ago.

Source: Santiment