The era of cryptocurrencies had started unofficially when the first bitcoin appeared more than a decade ago. However, many people would agree that cryptocurrencies’ real beginning is when BTC penetrated the mainstream and managed to reach its peak price back in December 2017.

All crypto enthusiasts were able to witness something miraculous happening, as the most popular crypto skyrocketed, attracting new investors and creating new fans all around the globe.

Nowadays, people use BTC for various things. Apart from buying and selling stuff with this cryptocurrency, people also exchange cryptos for each other or fiat currencies, and even use them to play casino games at platforms such as Vegas Casino.

However, many have their doubts about the popularity of Bitcoin. Is it still as popular as it used to be more than a year ago? Will it ever reach such popularity, or will it fade slowly away like many things in this information-oversaturated society?

Bitcoin is Here to Stay

One thing is certain — bitcoin and its underlying technology are not going anywhere. People all over the world accepted it, and some use it on a daily basis. There are way too many advantages that the blockchain offers to simply cast it away.

Being the most widespread cryptocurrency, Bitcoin will probably retain that status in the near future. However, it is not something that you should take for granted as the entire crypto sphere is still pretty shaky and at its infancy.

In other words, all the indicators tell us that BTC is still the most popular cryptocurrency, but all it takes for it to be dethroned is that some company comes up with improved underlying technology in order to improve the popularity of their crypto. One such company is Ethereum.

Which Cryptos Could Overtake BTC?

Speaking of the company Ethereum, as well as its crypto called ether, they are the biggest threat to BTC’s dominance. Simply put, bitcoin is just a cryptocurrency, whereas Ethereum is an entire system that aims to use the blockchain technology in other spheres, with some of them being outside of finance.

That is actually one of the main reasons why people started embracing the company and ether. They believe that Buterik and his team have a very clear vision about the blockchain-driven future and believe that the company will become even more popular in the future, resulting in ether becoming the most popular cryptocurrency. However, that seems like a distant future at the moment, especially when we take a look at the numbers related to these two cryptocurrencies.

At the moment, the total market cap for BTC is $188.2 billion, and it grows rapidly. Ethereum is the second most important cryptocurrency, but the total market cap is only $19 billion. Not only is bitcoin much more popular than Ethereum, but it also has a higher market cap compared to the top 20 altcoins all together. In other words, it is safe to conclude that Bitcoin is still the most popular cryptocurrency at the moment.

Some people claim that another pretender to the throne could be bitcoin cash. It is a type of cryptocurrency that separated from bitcoin via a hard fork. It is regarded as upgraded bitcoin which can process many more transactions compared to its “parent” currency. However, it is highly unlikely that BCH will ever achieve the stardom of BTC, simply because there is not enough hype around it anymore, whereas bitcoin is still pretty much the main topic of most crypto enthusiasts.

Finally, ripple and litecoin are also valid candidates for taking BTC’s throne sometime in the future, as they are loved and accepted by crypto fans worldwide. However, they are nowhere near bitcoin regarding popularity, so they cannot be considered a part of the picture at the moment.
It’s Not All About the Money

Cryptocurrencies are money (some countries might beg to disagree), which means that they are the same as dollars, pounds, euros and other fiat currencies. The only thing that makes them different is the fact that most of them use blockchain — a revolutionary type of technology that has the potential not only to disrupt the finance industry but also to change the way we live in.

Therefore, one has to take into account the technological potential of some cryptocurrencies and understand that they are as much technology as they are finance. Maybe bitcoin will be just a small part of the blockchain-driven world. Perhaps the entire crypto/blockchain phase ends very soon? Nobody can predict that.