With more than 4,000 cryptocurrencies to invest in, it’s hard to know which coins to choose. However, while all are prone to volatile price swings, experts point to one quality above all others: utility. Bitcoin could improve financial inclusion and enable border-less payments. But what about its use-case? Well, given its limited utility, Ethereum was the preferred ecosystem for building cryptocurrency projects.
The race is on
Billionaire entrepreneur and shark tank star Mark Cuban believed or rather chose other altcoins (Ethereum and Polygon) over Bitcoin. In a new interview with Crypto Banter, the famous promoter talked about his story regarding the aforementioned coins. He praised the leading smart contract platform (ETH) and the layer 2 scaling solution on its blockchain. He stated:
“Bitcoin’s a great store of value, but Ethereum and Polygon that I both own a lot of, you can start to see the utility.”
Smart contracts were indeed one of the most discussed use cases for the largest altcoin. It has helped users to exchange money or perform other transactions seamlessly without any middlemen. Different blockchains relied on these smart contract protocols. Popular Ethereum apps MakerDAO and Compound used smart contracts at their core to lend and allow users to earn interest.
Polygon was designed to solve scalability and usability issues that exist within the Ethereum blockchain. Well, users utilized it to avoid the high gas fee at ETH’s blockchain. He added:
“You’re starting to see more and more apps popping up there, and we’ll see what happens with ETH 2.0 in terms of gas fees, and I think Polygon has done a great job, and you have some other blockchains trying to do the same.”
In addition to this, Cuban believed that it was “ridiculous” to think BTC was a hedge against inflation. It rose over the years as inflation did, however that was due to the hike in supply and demand. He opined:
“You can tell me anything you want about El Salvador. But El Salvador has to buy its Bitcoin in dollars, like everyone else, right? ” he said. “So there’s nothing special there.”
Cuban had previously asserted the idea that ‘Bitcoin an inflation hedge’ was just a marketing slogan, not only for the leading cryptocurrency, but also for safe-haven gold.
That said, the king coin has enjoyed massive traction across different industries. Banks, real estate, etc. had integrated Bitcoin into their balance sheets. The growing use of Bitcoin for cross-border payments was much more exciting from a practical perspective. As the infrastructure around Bitcoin grew, it resembled the systems used in the rest of the finance world.
Big companies now insured cryptocurrencies or—as in the case of JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Goldman Sachs—offer services to cryptocurrency businesses. If noting, this echoed the sheer demand of this digital asset.
