The largest smart contract network, Ethereum, (ETH) has begun to challenge Bitcoin (BTC) in a different metric. It briefly surpassed it by the number active addresses. This is mainly because activity on BTC fell sharply, but then rebounded.
Santiment, an on-chain analysis company, and Coin Metrics, a crypto intelligence firm, provide different data. It shows that at least one flipping occurred in June.
According to Santiment on June 28, there was 655,360 active Ethereum addresses and 606,580 activate BTC addresses. BTC overtook ETH on June 29 (808,660 vs. 705,350). Coin Metrics reported on June 27 that ETH had approximately 200,000 more active addresses per day than BTC – this was the third flippening in history. The first two were June 5th and June 6th.
Coin Metrics also noted that although BTC’s market capitalization fell less than ETH in the week to date, active addresses for BTC dropped 8.5% week over week while active addresses for ETH increased by 9.2%.
In their June 29 report, Santiment stated that high address activity and low deposits are a sign that prices can naturally rise. They added that they also wanted to see more address activity, even if it means that deposits are rising along with it.
While many Ethereum supporters are pleased that ETH active addresses is now more important than BTC for long-term bullishness of the project and its price, especially since Ethereum 2.0 is being launched in phases, others disagree. Others argue that it is difficult to compare these addresses because they operate differently.
According to Quantum Economics’ MatiGreenspan, the average transaction per day on Bitcoin has fallen to levels not seen in the last crypto winter. There is however a silver lining: the fees have also dropped.
Yesterday’s BTC median transaction fees reached USD 4.5, up from USD 28 in April. According to Bitinfocharts data, the ETH median fee fell from nearly USD 38 registered in May to USD 1.85 yesterday.
Greenspan stated, “Now that the hype bubble is busted, we’re experiencing a most welcome phase of relaxation, which historically has been very beneficial for builders to work in actually growing the industry.”
BTC trades at USD 34.694 at 13:05 UTC. It is down 3.5% per day and its weekly gains are less than 7%. ETH traded at USD 2,145, down almost 2% per day but up almost 15% in a single week. BTC has outperformed ETH by -3% vs -11%) this month.
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