Ethereum has been the dominant smart contract and decentralized application (Dapp) network since its inception. A recent analysis based on Ether’s price (ETH $1,862), and its market capitalization, shows indisputable evidence that the blockchain has been gaining market share over time.
Ether’s dominance in market capitalization terms grew over the past couple of years, from an 18% average in July 2021 to the current 20%. Excluding Bitcoin from the analysis, Ether’s market share presently stands at 40.6%, while the next competitor, BNB holds a 7.2% share. This reveals a significant disparity from the leading Dapp-focused network to the incumbents, which is also evident when analyzing the total value locked (TVL) on each network’s smart contracts. Ethereum is the absolute leader with $24.6 billion in TVL, followed by Tron’s $5.4 billion and BNB Chain’s $3.3 billion. The Ethereum network’s TVL market share has experienced fluctuations, but Ethereum remains a strong leader.
Aside from TVL, Ethereum’s leadership can also be observed in the space of validator decentralization and development. Currently, the Ethereum network has over 700,000 validators, with 99% of the balances locked in staking participating in the process. Ethereum’s ecosystem also has the highest number of active developers, surpassing its competitors.
The Ethereum network also holds a strong position in derivatives activity and NFT markets. Ether futures aggregated open interest stands at $5.4 billion, while competitors BNB hold $380 million and Solana a mere $178 million. This shows that Ether’s future contracts are essential for institutional trading practices like hedging and trading with leverage.
Despite facing gas fees that oftentimes break above $10, Ethereum remains the absolute leader in the number of buyers and total sales in NFTs. According to CryptoSlam!, the leading network reached $380 million in sales in the past 30 days, while Solana, Polygon, and BNB Chain totaled a combined $93 million.
In conclusion, Ethereum’s dominance in the smart contract-focused blockchain space is evident. The positive trend in Ether’s dominance might fade over time if the promised upgrades do not come to fruition. However, for now, Ether’s market capitalization share of 20% remains unchallenged.
Source: Cointelegraph
