Ethereum will continue to outperform Bitcoin in 2021 and will ultimately exceed its rival’s value, predicts the CEO of one of the world’s largest independent financial advisory and asset management organisations.

Nigel Green, chief executive and founder of UAE-based deVere Group, which launched the app deVere Crypto in 2018, notes that Ether is up 240 per cent in 2021 while Bitcoin has only risen around 38 per cent.

“In fact, (Ethereum) has outperformed all other benchmark assets in the first half of this year.”

The deVere boss says two key factors are driving Ethereum’s outperformance.

“First, Ether has a higher level of real-use potential as Ethereum, the platform on which it is the native cryptocurrency, is the most in-demand development platform for smart contracts, thereby highlighting that network’s value not only as a platform for developers but as a worldwide financial utility.”

“Second, investor enthusiasm for the game-changing transition to ETH 2.0, which makes the Ethereum network considerably more scalable, sustainable and secure.”

That upgrade, expected in the first quarter of 2022, “represents a major boost not just for Ethereum but for blockchain technology itself,” Green said.

He continued: “Ethereum is more useful than Bitcoin and has tech advantages over its better-known rival.

“Ultimately, this will mean that its value will exceed that of Bitcoin – probably within five years…. There will be peaks and troughs along the way of course, but Ethereum’s ascent to the top of the cryptoverse seems unstoppable.

“That said, I remain confident that Bitcoin will hit, or even surpass, its mid-April all-time high of US$65,000 by the end of 2021.”

Yesterday evening Ethereum had a market cap of $351 billion, 41.9 per cent of Bitcoin’s US$836 billion.