Opinion: Ethereum is better suited to serve as an exchange-traded commodity than Bitcoin

Ethereum has a greater chance of gaining recognition as an exchange-traded commodity than Bitcoin. This view was presented by the renowned asset valuation expert, professor of the NYU Stern School of Business Aswath Damodaran, in an interview with CNBC.

The expert, nicknamed the “dean of Wall Street valuation”, noted the greater growth potential of the second-largest cryptocurrency in the context of a possible paradigm of widespread blockchain deployment. In his view, Ethereum is better suited to serve as the asset used in DLT commerce.

“Bitcoin bulls keep talking about profits from price appreciation. But that commercial pitch ends there. It says nothing about the essence of the first cryptocurrency”, he said.

Damodaran pointed to the absence of an “end goal” for digital gold. This, as the professor believes, leads to treating Bitcoin as an asset for “an exclusively speculative game”.

The expert urged a clear delineation of cryptocurrencies according to their aims.

“We need to identify those crypto assets that strive to match the status of a currency, those that aspire to be ‘gold for millennials’ and those that truly correspond to the status of an exchange-traded commodity,” Damodaran said.

In 2017 ForkLog published an article by the expert arguing that Bitcoin is a currency, not an investment.

Earlier, in December 2020, economist Nouriel Roubini predicted death of Bitcoin at the hands of the Biden administration.

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