Ethereum surpasses Bitcoin market cap - is Bitcoin then considered an Alt?

[etherflip]

Or is the history of this term further rooted?

[neatworld]

I would say so. Bitcoin is the original cryptocurrency - the first time anyone ever heard of the the concept of blocks and chains. Which makes any other crypto that follows an Alernative Currency, i.e, an Alt.

[lobo13hf]

Or is the history of this term further rooted?

No, If ethereum surpass bitcoin and it doesn't mean a lot to us. Only the place of bitcoin will be replacing ethereum if it already exceeded the bitcoin. Bitcoin will be the same as bitcoin itself.
As long as the majority of crypto still use the bitcoin as the leading pair to theirs and then it should be considered as the first number of cryptocurrency based on its adoption by another altcoin.

[ItsEzMkay]

Can you guys actually see this happening though? I mean temporarily yes it probably can as things can quite close last year but I think if it happens it happens briefly and then things go back to normal. Just dont envision Ethereum being worth one fifth of Bitcoin when it is all said and done but I could be supremely wrong.

[xcbjsuw]

It would be very difficult to go beyond bitcoin,
look at ethereum price only 10% of bitcoin. in my opinion bitcoin and ethereum will remain like this.

[Jpti]

Bitcoin was the first of the cryptocurrency and this is a bitcoin forum. It discussed about bitcoin primarily and with the development of other cryptocurrencies, a section was designated for other alternative cryptos.
Alt coins is a just a relative term for this forum, Ethereum or other cryptocurrencies and their forum doesn't call themselves alts. Rather they may call everyone but them, alts.

[European Central Bank]

never.

bitcoin will always be separate from others. nothing has the history that it does. actual market cap won't matter. and anyone using market cap as their be all and end all really should think again.

ethereum is all about utility. i have zero doubt that a better coin will come along at some point that does things simpler, safer and more securely. as a world computer it's... not great. at that point what happens when ethereum is flipped?

bitcoin is not in competition with ethereum. same goes for many other coins. the sooner they're regarded as totally different propositions the better. this flippening crap is tired and old.

the only thing they're competing for is pumper funds. as this is still regarded as the number one factor it goes to show how much further we have to go.

[xiaoxz]

Or is the history of this term further rooted?

I always think Bitcoin is a proxy for all cryptos and can not be surpassed, but now I believe Eth is likely to outperform bitcoin.
What Bitcoin represents is more about value storage and payment, while Eth stands for blockchain, and blockchain is going fast.

[ismart1]

The fact is that the term alt was issued referring to any other coin that is not bitcoin. So based on this conception, the term has nothing to do with its value, market dominance or other possibilities that can come to the crypto scenario, the term alt simply state the obvious: they came after and they are an alternative to the first. The same way that you can not go back to 2008 and invent the Ethereum or any other coin to have other alts to that coin, Bitcoin will always be bitcoin and all other will be alternatives to it, end of story.

[kayvie]

bitcoin is the mother of all altcoin, you wont compare an altcoin to bitcoin because altcoin will never ever surpass bitcoin. even ethereum who shows big potential in the market.

[alyssa85]

Can you guys actually see this happening though? I mean temporarily yes it probably can as things can quite close last year but I think if it happens it happens briefly and then things go back to normal. Just dont envision Ethereum being worth one fifth of Bitcoin when it is all said and done but I could be supremely wrong.

About two years ago when they first started to talk about the flippening, it seemed impossible.

But as of today, Bitcoin's market cap is $128bn and Ethereum's is $75 bn. If you all in all the ICOs built on Ethereum's platform, it's already surpassed bitcoin.

Then look at the number of transactions done in a 24 hour period:

https://bitinfocharts.com/

bitcoin had 238,476, but Ethereum had 887,933. So on that measure Ethereum has already surpassed bitcoin.

All that is left is merchant adoption. Since bitcoin had that fee problem last december, merchants have been adding other alts. They usually Litecoin and Bitcoincash, but lots are adding Ethereum as well. The more this continues, the more of a network effect ethereum will have.

[rezurect]

I don't know about being considered an alt, bitcoin was still first. But it would probably be a turning point.

[easytipz]

Let's wait, hope... and see!

[PhucS]

No, I don't think that will happen. Ethereum is gradually developing stronger, its potential is huge when a lot of supporters but to overcome Bitcoin is not easy, Bitcoin is in crisis but it is still very valuable. And although ETH has beaten Bitcoin, I think Bitcoin can't be considered an altcoin either, because it is one of the first cryptocurrency in the world. Altcoins are the coins that appeared after Bitcoin, based on Bitcoin's platform for development