Ethereum Regains Momentum, Poised to Overtake Ripple by Market Capitalization

Ethereum's price has surged in the past week, allowing the cryptocurrency to close its gap with its close rival, XRP. Going into 2019, it's possible that Ethereum will regain its dominant position as number two by market capitalization.

Ethereum is experiencing a hangover from its astronomical highs in late 2017 and early 2018.

At its apex in June of 2017, a single ether was worth a tenth of a bitcoin; Ethereum dominated the market at 32 percent of overall market capitalization.

Now, it's twenty-seven ether to a bitcoin and Ethereum has shrunk to just 11 percent of the overall market.

Ripple's progress allowed XRP to weather the market winter, experiencing smaller losses than most other cryptocurrencies-all while Ethereum withered.

Whether Ethereum will retain its strength or shrink back to the third position by market capitalization is still up for speculation.

Price Analysis for Q4. For the majority of Q4, Ethereum was devastated by the cryptocurrency bear market.

Within the last week, the price has surged back up to a comfortable $140. Ethereum seems to be experiencing a hangover from its astronomical gains in 2017.

If Ethereum regains its position as number-two for a protracted amount of time, it's possible that it will damage confidence in XRP. Whether that will happen though is anyone's guess.

Tell CryptoSlate what you think in our Ripple vs. Ethereum poll on Twitter.