For as long as the crypto industry has existed, Bitcoin has been at the top of it. By most metrics, Bitcoin is the world’s most powerful digital currency, whether that’s market cap, number of users, per-token value, and global visibility. And while there are other cryptos with high levels of profitability and name recognition, Bitcoin seems to be leading the pack.
But will this always be the case? As much as Bitcoin has been on top, there have been tokens that some predict will take its place. Will that likely happen in 2024?
Major Milestones
From a lot of early indications, Bitcoin is on track to have a very successful 2024. While the industry has been battling a winter for some time, Bitcoin seems to be on track to recover. One of the reasons for this is the Bitcoin halving which is due to take place in April 2024.
This is important because the halving will reduce the supply of Bitcoin in the market, which usually drives up demand. It comes as no surprise then that the price of Bitcoin tends to spike shortly after a halving takes place. And 2024 will likely follow the same pattern, with Bitcoin seeing a major spike in the first four months of the year.
With enough luck, Bitcoin could go on to see a major price rally over the course of 2024 and this would only reinforce Bitcoin as the top dog in the crypto industry. At the same time, other cryptos have made milestones that they have recently attained or are looking forward to. Ethereum, which is the world’s second-biggest crypto, switched to a proof-of-stake consensus in the last year and will be completing its Cancun-Deneb upgrade in late 2023 or early 2024. These changes could lead to a spike in Ether’s price and visibility, though whether that will be enough to dethrone Bitcoin is yet to be seen.
Bitcoin Vs Others
On the subject of whether Bitcoin will thrive in 2024, it is worth examining the state of the next hottest crypto options. As of the writing of this article, Bitcoin has a market cap of around $530 billion. Its closest competitors are Ether, Tether, BNB, and XRP, with $119 billion, $83 billion, $33 billion, and $27 billion respectively. While sudden market developments are not unheard of, the cryptos most likely to usurp Bitcoin are these.
It would, however, be an uphill battle to overthrow Bitcoin. The closest competitor is Ether, which would have to more than double its current market cap to overtake Bitcoin. Either one of the current top altcoins would have to see a monumental spike in use or Bitcoin would have to see such a massive decline that it falls from its current position. So far, neither seems likely to happen. This is especially true considering that Bitcoin’s applications have been significantly expanding in 2023 and show no signs of stopping in 2024.
Incoming Developments
When you look at the list of top cryptos and how they are used, one thing becomes evident; some are at the top primarily from investment use cases and some are boosted by their underlying blockchains. For a long time, this was one of Bitcoin’s flaws. Other tokens like Ether were used for payment for goods and services and as investment vehicles, but their underlying blockchains were also heavily used for creating applications, and other digital assets like NFTs.
Some questioned the longevity of Bitcoin if its blockchain wasn’t being used in the same way as Ethereum or Polygon. But 2023 was the year that Bitcoin proved everyone wrong. In January 2023, Inscriptions were introduced to the Bitcoin mainnet and this meant that assets like NFTs could be minted on it. This gave birth to Bitcoin Ordinals, one of the biggest NFT developments of the year. In only a few months, Bitcoin Ordinals became some of the most in-demand NFT categories and Bitcoin became a top blockchain for NFT creation.
This not only debunked the years-long belief that the Bitcoin blockchain didn’t have many use cases but also opened the floodgates for more innovation. From what we’ve seen so far, this should continue well into 2024.
Conclusion
Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin has been the world’s biggest and most valuable cryptocurrency for over a decade. And while it might eventually lose its spot, 2024 will not likely be the year it happens. This is because Bitcoin is gearing up to possibly make a recovery in 2024.
2023 set the foundation with the development of Bitcoin Ordinals and 2024 will see the next Bitcoin halving. The combination of these two will likely see Bitcoin having a profitable 2024 and maybe even a new all-time price high. Even if this does not happen, the current signs point to Bitcoin remaining at the top of the crypto food chain.
