For the first time ever, ethereum’s public forum, ethtrader – dedicated to price and trading discussion about eth as well as relevant news – has surpassed bitcoin’s main public forum, r/bitcoin.
At the time of writing, r/ethtrader has 801 active users online, while r/bitcoin has 762, a significant statistic that may potentially indicate a shift in attitude is currently happening in the digital currency space.
The main reason is probably because bitcoin is mired in a never ending “debate” regarding its scalability which has led to considerable in-fighting with its two main public forums, r/bitcoin and r/btc, often descending into name-calling and demeaning statements.
This atmosphere was on display just today when it was revealed Bitmain, a bitcoin ASICs manufacturer, had the ability to shut-down some 70% of bitcoin’s hashrate. A revelation which was used to score point on the blocksize “debate” with small blockers calling for a proof of work (PoW) hardfork while big blockers saw it as a coordinated smear campaign.
In the meantime, while bitcoin descends into apparent chaos, ethereans are busy reading the latest news that Google is exploring the concept of ownership usage through ethereum’s blockchain.
Others are more busy looking at eth’s chart which has gone up some 15% today, reaching an all-time high while giving the currency a market cap of nearly $5.5 billion, around the same market cap as bitcoin’s last year.
In the midst of jokes and celebrations, some ethereans speak of a flippening, a time when ethereum’s market cap overcomes bitcoin’s. While many of them are former bitcoiners or still hold some of it, having left the community after the in-fighting just kept continuing, the general opinion there seems to be that bitcoin is old tech.
Bitcoin transactions are slow, they say, and expensive. It takes you ten minutes for one confirmation, if you are lucky, and costs you $1, when most fiat transactions are free. For eth, it takes just seconds for a confirmation and fees are as good as non-existent, some of them boast.
That’s just what bitcoin can do, even though slowly and expensively, they say. There are many things bitcoin can’t do at all while eth can. Ethereum has smart contracts, allowing for token sales with the latest one valued at some $300 million.
Overall, this blending of a civilized community with what appears to be a superior tech seems to be leading to a shift in attitude if the users online statistic has any communicative power. Thus, many are now asking, is this flippening thing for real?
