Many people think that market cap is an indication of a platform’s success, but people who think that are sorely mistaken.
A coin may do well in the stock market but that is no indication of how well the platform is doing. Market graphs only show how much people are willing to pay. Many times, the people who are investing are doing so based on a future projection, an idea, a vision. They’re not usually investing in proven, working ecosystems. Crypto market graphs do not show how much a platform is accomplishing in the real world.
For example, Ethereum is not number one in market cap but Ethereum is clearly a front runner in activity. As Joseph Lubin, co-founder of Ethereum says, “Market cap doesn’t reflect activity. Decentralized networks are growing.” To clarify his point, Lubin cites the following numbers on Ethereum’s platform:
- 10 Billion Daily API requests for Infura (gateway to the Ethereum network)
- 1 Million Truffle downloads (tools to build Ethereum smart contracts)
- 1 Million Metamask downloads (extension for accessing Ethereum enabled Dapps)
- 12,000 live Ethereum nodes
- 48 Million unique Ethereum addresses
How many other platforms can claim these adoption numbers?? Ethereum is blowing the lid off other platforms in the area of application development. To make this point, Lubin lists a number of real world applications that the Ethereum community is currently building. Below are a few examples.
“Blockchains are solving real-world problems,” says Lubin. With…
- Israel’s encrypted messaging system
- Estonia’s electronic healthcare record trials
- Dubai’s 2020 initiative
- South Africa Reserve Bank’s @goquorum trial
- Japan’s e-voting system
- Zug @uport_me IDs + crypto ATMs
Here’s a screenshot of part of Lubin’s list. The list is looooong. Click HERE if you want to see the whole thread.
There is a lot happening in the blockchain space that the average person knows little to nothing about. People will become aware of it though because blockchain will eventually be embedded in the backend of almost everything we do much like the internet has. Blockchain will be adopted on a more widespread basis because of the low barrier to entry. To access blockchain, all the end user needs is a phone. And phones are literally everywhere and in the hands of almost everyone. Right now we can share information with anyone connected on the internet (with the exception of those in firewalled countries such as China). When enough people start to use crypto and begin to actively exchange value with each other over borders, it’s anyone’s guess how that will look.
Don’t let anyone tell you they know who the future market winner will be. And don’t look at market cap as an indication of which one will win. The old rules do not apply to this new way of operating. In the economy of the future, there will be new indicators of success. The size and activity of the communities will be the deciding factor.
Bitcoin and Ethereum currently have the largest communities behind them. There are no other coins that have the same size community…at least not yet. I say yet, because communities will grow and the winning coin or coins will emerge. No one knows which coin/s will win. That remains to be seen. The main point to take away from this article is that market cap is not an indicator of success, community activity is.
