After XRP's (Ripple) spectacular 140% triumph in 2023, investors are wondering which other altcoin has the potential to pop off in the next 12 months. CryptoVantage surveyed 1000 US residents who had experience buying cryptocurrency.

70% of respondents expect new historical highs to be reached in five years. Ethereum has the best chance of surpassing Bitcoin, with Dogecoin in second place. 16% of respondents said that no altcoin has a chance of overtaking Bitcoin in terms of market capitalisation.

In terms of capitalisation, Ethereum ($229 billion) is way closer to Bitcoin ($586 billion) than to other altcoins. Excluding stablecoins, the next one is XRP, with $44 billion and the above-mentioned Dogecoin, with just $10 billion.

But Ethereum's strength lies not only in its army of fans but also in the developers' never-ending efforts to modernise the network. Last year, the network switched to the PoS algorithm, turning away from miners' services. Energy consumption has been reduced by 99%. 

Instead of miners, validators are now responsible for block building. The opportunity for passive income has led to a boom in investment demand. As a result, 9,000,000 ETH worth $17 billion were staked in the last 12 months.

Even the SEC's enforcement action against US cryptocurrency exchanges and the refusal of some of them to participate in the staking programme couldn't affect the inflow of funds. 

The survey also included this point, with only 20% of respondents believing that tighter crypto regulation would hurt the future value of cryptocurrencies.

In addition to the interest in staking, Ethereum's exchange rate is positively impacted by supply reduction due to the burn mechanism introduced by the London hardfork back in 2021. In 2022, the network switched to PoS and became deflationary; 294,000 ETH worth $562 million was burned after the merge.

The only factor holding back Ethereum's growth remains the regulator's hawkish stance. But its recent court loss to Ripple on some points and the judge's refusal to recognise cryptocurrency trading as securities transactions increase Ethereum's chances of deflecting the SEC's attacks.

StormGain Analytical Group 
(platform for trading, exchanging and storing cryptocurrency)