Ethereum could overtake Bitcoin after London hard fork

• London hardfork: what is it and how will it affect the network?
• Experts predict a massive rally ahead that can overshadow Bitcoin
• ETH gains 33 percent in 4 days. What’s next?

Yerevan (CoinChapter.com) — The alpha altcoin Ethereum (ETH) is getting ready to launch a major protocol upgrade in July.

Dubbed as London hard fork, the major overhaul proposes to shift the network’s protocol from energy-intensive proof-of-work to a more speedy and eco-clean proof-or-stake. And now, experts believe that the London hard fork could see Ethereum overshadowing Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market cap.

What is London hard fork

The Ethereum network suffers from congestion issues, given its heavy utilization across booming crypto industries, including decentralized finance, non-fungible tokens, and stablecoins. As a result, high volumes atop its blockchain typically lead to slower transactions and higher gas and transaction fees.

Also read: Ethereum Testnet Burns ETH Before EIP-1559 Launch

The London hard fork proposes to dow away with the said technical inefficiencies. It thus expects to make Ethereum a faster and cheaper blockchain by merely replacing miners with validators (entities that stake at least 32 ETH to run the Ethereum blockchain in exchange for annual yields).

The fork consists of several Ethereum Improvements Protocols (EIP). The EPI-1559, in particular, has the Ethereum bulls excited, as it promises to reduce the infamously high gas fees on the network and set transaction fees with a fixed base fee for each block. Quinten Francois, a prominent crypto Youtuber with a large following, tweeted the list of EIPs in the London hardfork.

The #ethereum London hard fork consists of 5 EIPs :
1.EIP-1559: Fee market change for $ETH 1.0 Chain
2.EIP-3554: Difficulty Bomb Delay to December 2021
3.EIP-3529: Reduction in Refunds
4.EIP-3541: Reject new contracts starting with the 0xEF byte
5.EIP-3198: BASEFEE opcode

— Quinten François (@QuintenFrancois) June 27, 2021

Ethereum vs Bitcoin

CNBC’s Jim Cramer, the host of Mad Money, asserted in an interview with TheStreet that he sees ETH as a better investment than Bitcoin at this point, adding: “I’m moving much more into Ethereum.”

He’s not alone. Ross Middleton, the chief financial officer at Diversify, a suit of crypto-based financial instruments, commented on the latest price rally. He stated that developers behind the crypto continue to address the core issues of the network. The CFO also added that he would never bet against Ethereum.

Andrew Keys, the founder of Darma Capital investment management firm, and an outspoken proponent of the smart contract network has similar views on ETH. He tweeted that Ethereum is about to “melt faces” in July, singling out the EIP-1559. The “Ethereum oracle” asserted that he could see ETH overtaking BTC this year.

$ETH bout to melt faces in July headed into EIP-1559. Q3,Q4,Q1 should be pretty spectacular… culminating in some type of blow off top. Wouldn’t be surprised if $ETH overtakes $BTC in next 3 quarters.

— Andrew Keys (@AndrewDARMACAP) June 30, 2021

Meanwhile, Ethereum rallied against Bitcoin in the past sessions, gaining 18.5 percent since June 27. The rally means that traders chose Ethereum over consolidating Bitcoin to secure their assets.

Also read: 3 reasons why Ethereum (ETH) is rallying

ETH daily chart

The second-largest cryptocurrency rallied against the US dollar, gaining 33 percent from the June 26 low of $1,728.64. ETH reached $2,289 on Wednesday before slipping to $2,156 ahead of the London session Thursday.

Ethereum reclaimed the significant $2,000 resistance level on Tuesday. The token also managed to retest the 20-day exponential moving average (EMA-20) as support.

If ETH drops back below the EMA-20 later in the Thursday session, it still has the $2,083 support line to hold on to.

Also read: Ethereum analyst explains why ETH is set to break higher

However, considering the fundamental upgrade behind the recent rally, ETH might be primed for more gains in the upcoming sessions. The ‘London hard fork protocol upgrade promises reduced gas fees and faster transactions on the network. The development attracted traders and investors. Some experts believe the upgrade will help ETH overshadow Bitcoin.