Ether Could Overtake Bitcoin as Store of Value, Goldman Sachs Says

U.S. multinational investment bank Goldman Sachs thinks the native crypto of the Ethereum blockchain has what it takes to unseat bitcoin as the dominant store of value crypto.

According to a report by Business Insider on Tuesday, the bank believes ether's use cases currently possess the highest "potential," being the most popular development platform for smart contracts.

The report cited Goldman's Tuesday note to clients which, while bullish on ether, denied cryptos' superiority to gold when it came to taking the top spot among safe-haven assets.

"Gold is competing with crypto to the same extent it is competing with other risky assets such as equities and cyclical commodities," the note said. "We view gold as a defensive inflation hedge and crypto as a risk-on inflation hedge."

Goldman also said competition among cryptocurrencies represented another risk factor that prevents the nascent asset class from being safe places to park one's investment.

The comments echo last month's statements from the bank's consumer and wealth management division, which concluded that cryptocurrencies were “not a viable investment” for diversified portfolios.