Bitcoin vs. Ethereum: the WBTC battle

The amount of bitcoins on ETH blockchain nearly doubled in June, which lead to some tensions between two communities. Is there absolute superiority in one of the projects?

In June the number of tokenized Bitcoins on Ethereum called WBTC grew from 5200 to 11 682 BTC. The cost of Bitcoins on Ethereum blockchain has already exceeded the mark of 108 million dollars. The most interesting thing is that supporters of both cryptocurrencies put this fact in a positive light. Bitcoin proponents believe that people trust the first cryptocurrency the most and prefer to invest in it. Ethereum holders believe that off-chain transactions in ETH are more attractive than transactions on Lightning or Liquid platforms.

It’s too early to tell which side of this conflict will win. The “feud” between Bitcoin and Ethereum communities should be seen as a clear sign of the development of the DeFi field and the crypto market in general. One can draw an analogy with traditional finance: Bitcoin is the dollar, and Ethereum is SWIFT, the international network that coordinates cross-border payments among banks.

We can not say that SWIFT is absolutely superior to the dollar in something, and vice versa. In this case Ether is increasingly viewed not as a payment or store-ofvalue currency but for what it was intended: as a commodity that the decentralized computing network orchestrates its smart contracts. Each coin is good at something in its own way.

DeFi has become a miniature analogue of a traditional financial system. Yes, there are some differences between the communities of different cryptocurrencies now, but achievements in this area today will help future blockchain-based financial systems tomorrow.

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