The CoinShares’ Digital Asset Monthly Fund Manager Survey has revealed that investors are increasing their digital asset allocations to Cardano, XRP, and Polkadot at the expense of Ethereum.
Investors cited speculative reasons, good value, and Distributed Ledger Technology growth as major reasons for adding the digital assets to their portfolios.
There are a number of factors that could be attributed to the increased investor interest in Cardano and XRP compared to Ethereum ranging from speculation, and investor sentiment to recent developer activities across the respective blockchains.
The higher potential upside to the all-time high price for Cardano, and XRP compared to Ethereum could be the incentive for speculators to channel their asset allocations into these digital assets, albeit for the long term.
By design, Ethereum was built as an open-source platform that allowed for the building of other applications onto it. Ethereum had a first-mover advantage over other blockchains as it pioneered smart contracts. Consequently, the Ethereum platform grew rapidly over the years with an increased number of transactions. However, the platform’s scalability challenge resulted in higher gas fees, particularly during peak network periods. The lack of interoperability across blockchain platforms was another shortcoming for the Ethereum network.
对上述挑战的解决最终导致了所谓的“以太坊杀手”区块链的概念。 很快开发了竞争对手的区块链来克服以太坊平台面临的挑战。 这些区块链包括 Cardano 和 Polkadot 等等。 这些区块链已经发生了许多发展。
The Alonzo Upgrade on the Cardano Network in September 2021 provided fully functional smart contract capability, allowing the minting of NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) and running of several Decentralized Applications (DApps). With faster speeds and lower transaction costs, these developments have made the Cardano ecosystem a direct competitor to the Ethereum Network. It is likely that the higher transaction expenditures and scalability challenges may have contributed to investor funds flowing into Cardano at the expense of Ethereum.
根据 Electric Capital 2021 年开发者报告，Polkadot 生态系统是最大且发展迅速的生态系统之一，每月有超过 250 名活跃开发者。 据报道，在历史的同一时刻，Polkadot 生态系统的增长速度超过了以太坊网络。 与以太坊网络相比，这可能会影响投资者资金流入 Polkadot 生态系统。
Ripple has been involved in an ongoing legal battle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) since late 2020 in which the SEC claimed that Ripple conducted illegal security offering through the sale of its XRP token. The initial court rulings appear to be going in Ripple’s tide towards winning the case against the SEC. Speculators are anticipating that a Ripple win against the SEC would result in an increase in the price of XRP. Thus, bolstering investor confidence in XRP.
Should we expect to see further fund outflows from Ethereum into Cardano, Polkadot, and XRP? Well, the race to become the preferred blockchain is only heating up. Developer activity is only expected to intensify across blockchains to make them more efficient and secure.
In May 2022, the average Ethereum transfer gas fees fell to a ten-month low of below $3 per transaction. Though this was welcome news for Ethereum Network users, it remains uncertain as to how long this gas fee level will be sustained. Some crypto experts have attributed the drop in gas fees simply to the recent general slump in the crypto market resulting in a reduced number of transactions on the Ethereum network.
以太坊联合创始人 Vitalik Buterin 透露，期待已久的以太坊合并升级定于 2022 年 8 月进行。升级将标志着以太坊从工作量证明向权益证明共识机制的转变。 以太坊合并升级很可能是以太坊网络扩大其对竞争对手区块链的先发优势所需要的急需的火花。
