Goldman Sachs argues that the Ethereum blockchain has more practical real-world applications.

Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) said in a Tuesday note that in years to come, the market capitalization of Ether could overtake that of bitcoin, driven by more real-world applications running on the Ethereum blockchain. (MARKETS INSIDER)

Accordingly, Ether, presently the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency, could become the dominant digital store of value, eventually dislodging bitcoin at the top of the cryptocurrencies heap.

The Goldman Sachs analysts viewed Ether as the “cryptocurrency with the highest real use potential as Ethereum, the platform on which it is the native digital currency, is the most popular development platform for smart contract applications.”

They further said bitcoin, the currently leading cryptocurrency, was hamstrung by its slower transactional speed and was therefore being given the go-by in many new developments.

Ether last week surpassed bitcoin on one metric

As on Friday, the Ethereum network registered slightly more than 750,000 active addresses, exceeding bitcoin’s count by about 50,000.

Though the fact is significant, active bitcoin addresses have dropped 38% since bitcoin hit its high in April, and that may have more to do with Ethereum taking the lead in this regard.

However, even on the price front, Ether has gained 855.64% over the past one year compared to bitcoin’s return of 266.36% – that’s a more than 3X outperformance. (Source: Marketwatch)

With Ethereum commencing its much-anticipated transition away from bitcoin’s “proof-of-work” validation model to the more energy-efficient “proof-of-stake,” the gulf could widen further.

It may be noted that the chief investment officer of Two Prime, a $100 million investment manager of digital assets, said last month that ether would eventually “flip” bitcoin.

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