Skip to main content

Bitcoin Cash surpassed Ethereum as world’s second most popular cryptocurrency

bitcoin cash becomes second most valued cryptocurrency
Lightboxx/123RF
In the world of cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin is king, followed by Ethereum and other such digital assets. However, last night we saw Bitcoin’s splinter currency, Bitcoin Cash, briefly overtake Ethereum to become the world’s second most valuable cryptocurrency.

Early Sunday morning, Bitcoin Cash skyrocketed in value to $2,500 a coin surpassing Ethereum in terms of market capitalization.

Recommended Videos

Bitcoin Cash, which broke away from the more popular Bitcoin earlier this year, was rising in price until about 2:00 a.m. ET. After that point, its value fell by about $1,000. By about 11:35 a.m, the coin had increased in value to $1,525 a share, but had still fallen below Ethereum’s market capitalization. It should be noted that Bitcoin Cash is still more expensive than Ethereum in terms of individual coins, with the former costing $1,449, compared to the latter’s $311.

Regardless, it was still an impressive rally for a coin that normally goes for about $300-500. Ethereum’s founder Vitalik Buterin took to Twitter to congratulate Bitcoin Cash on the recent surge.

Bitcoin Cash’s surge appears to have cost a slight downturn in the value of its sibling cryptocurrency. On Wednesday, Bitcoin was valued at a high of $7,128, but on Sunday, it fell to $5,512. As of the time of this reporting, Bitcoin is valued at $5,987.

Bitcoin Cash broke away from Bitcoin in August of this year as a means of making cryptocurrencies more accessible to the average consumer. Since then, Bitcoin has continued to lead the way in terms of price and market capitalization, but some experts believe Bitcoin Cash’s rise will continue.

“There were lots of Bitcoin Cash whales who were in early on Bitcoin who were waiting to see what would happen with 2x,” Kyle Samani, of MultiCoin Capital told Forbes. “… They’re dumping BTC for BCH … I know many Bitcoin OGs who have dumped $10m+ of BTC for BCH … Turns out there were a lot more BCH ideologues than we all thought.”

Despite their increased popularity  in society, cryptocurrencies are still a bit of a mystery to many people. If you’re interested in learning more about Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies in general, we can help you out.

Eric Brackett
Former Digital Trends Contributor
What is Bitcoin halving and when does it happen?
Bitcoin Cash

Bitcoin is scheduled to have its third halving event this May, and if history repeats itself, an increase in Bitcoin is sure to follow. 

As the most popular form of cryptocurrency (and the blockchain technology that powers it) Bitcoin is now widely accepted around the world and has a growing number of applications. 

Read more
Elon Musk says Bitcoin scammers impersonating him on Twitter are ‘not cool’
Elon Musk

For more than a year, bots and trolls have used Twitter to scam cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin, using Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s name. He finally called the scammers out over the weekend, tweeting: “This is not cool.” 

Musk said “the crypto scam level on Twitter is reaching new levels” in response to a tweet about a user who noticed verified accounts being “hacked” to ask other users for bitcoin. Accounts belonging to retailers and even book publishers were taken over by hackers. 

Read more
On the day of its death, Windows 7 is the second-most popular operating system
Windows 7 Laptop

Windows 7 was first available for consumers to purchase in October of 2009, and nearly more a decade later, its time is finally coming to end. Today, January 14, officially marks the end of support for the Windows 7 operating system, meaning Microsoft will no longer provide free security updates.

Even so, Windows 7 is still much-loved and is still quite popular, falling second only to Windows 10. According to data from NetMarketShare, Windows 7 holds a 32.75% share of the operating system market, behind Windows 10's 47.65%. That's also larger than MacOS Mojave's 10.14% share, and way ahead of the Chrome OS share of 0.39%.

Read more