Trading volume of Ether grew faster than that of Bitcoin in the first half of the year, and in the month of May, total ETH trading volume was tied with that of bitcoin for the first time ever, according to a report published today by CoinBase.
Looking at data from 20 major exchanges worldwide, Coinbase found that Bitcoin’s trading volume for the period reached $2.1 trillion, up 489% from $356 billion over the first half of last year.
Total ETH volume, meanwhile, reached $1.4 trillion, up 1,461% from $92 billion in H1 2020. This was the first sustained period of time ever for Ether’s trading pace to exceed Bitcoin’s, according to Coinbase.
Both Bitcoin and Ethereum jumped this week amid a furious short squeeze, in part catalyzed by expectations that Amazon would soon offer crypto payment services, after sinking in May after Elon Musk shunned bitcoin on concerns about its environmental impact and a regulatory crackdown in China.
Unlike bitcoin, which is mostly used for peer-to-peer payments and as a store of value, Ethereum has been at the center of a new crop of apps allowing for peer-to-peer lending, borrowing and trading.
It is also facing an upgrade due around Aug. 4 that will reduce the amount of outstanding tokens by destroying some of them every time it’s used to fuel transactions, which will spur even more price gains once the current accumulation period ends.