The World’s Largest Bank Labels Ethereum as ‘Digital Oil,’ Bitcoin as ‘Digital Gold’

According to reports, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the world’s largest bank, has dubbed Ethereum (ETH) as “Digital Oil” and Bitcoin (BTC) as “Digital Gold.”

In a new report shared by Matthew Sigel, head of digital assets at the asset management firm VanEck, ICBC has priced the two largest market cap cryptocurrencies. Moreover, the report notes that there is a high demand for digital assets, which is driving innovation in the industry. It describes:

“The market demand is driving the continuous iteration of digital currencies.”

The report compares Bitcoin to gold and suggests that the coin has additional benefits. It continues:

“Bitcoin maintains a gold-like scarcity through mathematical consensus, while solving issues of difficult distribution, authentication, and portability. The currency characteristics are gradually weakening, while the asset characteristics are continuously strengthening.”

The report refers to Ethereum as “Digital Oil,” touting several features of the best smart contract platform ecosystem. While ICBC highlights some drawbacks of the network, it also believes that technological advancements will overcome these shortcomings over time. It indicates the following:

“Ethereum is constantly upgrading its technology in terms of security, scalability, and sustainability, providing technical strength for the digital future…

Ethereum introduced Turing completeness with its proprietary programming language (Solidity) and virtual machine (EVM), allowing developers to write and control various complex smart contracts and applications, providing strong platform support for blockchain technology. Its flexibility is widely recognized in the fields of decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and is gradually expanding into the physical infrastructure network (DePin).

In essence, Ethereum’s Turing completeness enables it to execute all programming instructions given the correct commands and sufficient resources, but it also brings several practical issues…

Looking ahead, Ethereum developers will continue to strive for a Pareto optimum between sustainability, security, and efficiency.”

Sentiment: Positive