Wednesday an interview with BlackRock, CEO Larry Fink went viral in which the CEO called Bitcoin an international asset. Not only that, Fink also pointed to digital assets like Bitcoin as a way to digitize gold on the blockchain. This statement from the CEO has since been interpreted in various ways to mean that Fink referred to BTC as digital gold. So the question now remains, if Bitcoin is digital gold, which cryptocurrency is digital silver?
ETH Is Digital Silver?
The digital gold over Bitcoin argument continues, but since Ethereum is the second largest and most popular cryptocurrency in the market, it is often referred to as the “Digital Silver.” Over the past seven years, his performance has also confirmed claims that Ethereum is silver to Bitcoin’s gold.
There have been claims before that Litecoin qualifies to be called the digital silver. Most of these claims were based on the fact that Litecoin’s mechanism is essentially identical to BTC’s. However, in terms of performance, it falls short when compared to ETH, which is now BTC’s closest rival.
However, one area where Litecoin tends to outperform Ethereum is when it comes to supply. While Litecoin undergoes halving events every four years, such as BTC to reduce its block rewards and has a maximum supply, Ethereum has none of these things. The unlimited supply of ETH has always been a concern as it means the digital asset could be a perpetually inflationary asset. That is, until the implementation of the ETH burn, aimed at reducing the rate at which new coins are put into circulation.
Dates from Ultrasound money, a website that tracks the ETH burn and issuance rate, shows that instead of increasing, the ETH supply is now declining at a rate of 0.33% per year. This development allays concerns about inflation for ETH, further confirming the fact that Ethereum is the digital silver.
ETH price resting above $1,900 | Source: ETHUSD on Tradingview.com
Bitcoin vs Ethereum, which is better?
The argument over the better option between Bitcoin and Ethereum continues to grow strongly, especially on social media platforms. However, both digital assets are unique in their own way and serve different functions in the market.
While Bitcoin continues to hold the torch as a cryptocurrency pioneer and has gained massive support over the past decade, Ethereum has itself propelled the concept of decentralized finance (DeFi).
The use of smart contracts on the latter has helped developers create financial products that investors can use to manage their own wealth without going through an intermediary. Although this capability is gradually being developed on Bitcoin as well.
For now, both digital resources serve different sides of the market. However, this could easily change in the future.