Drastic Bitcoin Upgrade Intensifies Binance’s Ethereum, BNB, Solana, Cardano, XRP Rival After Huge Price Rallies

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Bitcoin’s first major upgrade in four years has been activated, with developers now able to add new features to improve the privacy, scalability and security of the Bitcoin blockchain, although some warn that Bitcoin is already obsolete.

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The price of bitcoin has skyrocketed over the past year, reaching an all-time high of around $ 69,000 per bitcoin this week as the taproot activates approaching, however, the price of ethereum , Binance BNB, solana and cardano, all rose. at a much higher rate over the past 12 months.

The long-awaited bitcoin upgrade, called Taproot, rolled out early Sunday morning and will unlock the potential of bitcoin smart contracts, helping bitcoin to compete more directly with Ethereum, Binance’s BNB, solana and cardano.

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The price of bitcoin has risen by around 300% over the past year, soaring alongside the price of … [+] ethereum, Binance BNB, solana and cardano.

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“The upgrade could be a macro turning point for scalability and innovation, fusing the best of post-SegWit conservatism with the energy of new beginnings,” wrote Ninos Mansor, partner of crypto investor Arrington XRP Capital. , in a report released last month.

Bitcoin’s latest upgrade, which includes so-called Schnorr signatures that make more complex bitcoin transactions look like any other transaction, is the first significant change to the protocol since the introduction of Segregated Witness (SegWit) in 2017. SegWit, designed to help bitcoin scale, was implemented at the height of the so-called block-size wars that saw the bitcoin community split in two, with one side splitting to create a fork of bitcoin-focused. payments, known as bitcoin cash.

“Four years in the making, Taproot is a non-contentious proposition, one that leaves behind the scar tissue of block wars and shows the market that bitcoin can evolve while maintaining a philosophy of extreme political stability,” Mansor wrote.

Since 2017, bitcoin has increasingly been seen as a store of value, more comparable to digital gold than to a payment network. Mansor believes that could change as Bitcoin’s network is better able to compete with Ethereum, its smaller rivals, and even commercial payment networks like Visa and Ripple’s XRP.

“While most of the market has focused on the rapid innovations of the Ethereum tw0 layer, the climate of bitcoin layer two is changing extremely rapidly,” Mansor wrote, referring to projects built on existing blockchains that can speed up transactions and reduce costs by moving them off the chain, adding, “Bitcoin could theoretically become a competitor to Visa, with new products that revitalize bitcoin’s capabilities as a medium of exchange.”

Ethereum and its main rivals BNB, solana, and Binance cardano have all seen their prices skyrocket over the past year thanks to growing interest in smart contracts, blockchain-based decentralized finance (DeFi) and tokens. non-fungible (NFT) – both largely built on top of Ethereum’s network. Many expect Binance’s BNB, solana and cardano to steal more and more Ethereum DeFi and NFT market share as rival blockchains fight for dominance.

Many in the crypto community have already predicted that Ethereum could eventually overtake bitcoin as the most valuable cryptocurrency, with DeFi – the idea that traditional financial services could be replaced by blockchain-based protocols – and NFTs – using crypto technology to symbolize all kinds of digital media. and assets – helping to drive the adoption of Ethereum and, in turn, the price of its Ether tokens.

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The price of bitcoin has exploded over the past year, reaching a market cap of over $ 1 … [+] one thousand billion.

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Bitcoin’s Layer Two Lightning Network, which speeds up and lowers the cost of bitcoin transactions, is often cited as an example of how bitcoin could compete with Ethereum, Binance’s BNB, Solana, and Cardano at the to come up.

“The surge in prices that we are seeing in bitcoin this week is more than an increase in inflows – it is the result of a combination of favorable winds that have been forming for some time,” Noelle Acheson, chief analyst market at leading digital currency broker Genesis, writes in comments emailed.

“The Taproot upgrade, which improves Bitcoin’s smart contract functionality and transaction privacy, lowers its transaction fees, and makes Lightning easier and cheaper to use, which will drive Bitcoin adoption,” said added Acheson. “Moreover, it is a reminder that bitcoin is a new technology and not just a store of value.”

“Bitcoin’s Taproot upgrade is timely as the development of the Bitcoin blockchain has accelerated rapidly this year,” wrote Paolo Ardoino, chief technology officer at Bitfinex, in comments sent via email.

“Taproot will offer more scalability, privacy, and smart contract functionality on the bitcoin blockchain and significantly expand what has been possible so far. We can expect Taproot to unleash the power of the Lightning Network to bring true scalability to the bitcoin blockchain, preparing it for use in more complex operations. “

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