## The Value Support and Development Prospects of Mainstream Cryptocurrencies

**Bitcoin: A Scarce Asset in the Digital Age**

People often compare Bitcoin to "digital gold," and this analogy is not unfounded. Its core value lies in its store of value property—its total supply is fixed at 21 million coins. But how is this number determined? The Bitcoin network packages blocks every 10 minutes, with an initial reward of 50 BTC per block. This reward halves approximately every four years. The total supply is calculated as: 50 × 6 × 24 × 365 × (1 + 1/2 + 1/4……+ 1/2^N) = 21 million coins. Thanks to this built-in scarcity mechanism encoded in the code, Bitcoin has gradually gained recognition from traditional institutions—public companies and large asset management firms continue to buy in. Its status as an inflation hedge is also becoming more solidified.

Future growth potential depends on several factors: the degree of participation from traditional financial institutions, macroeconomic cycles (especially when fiat currency inflation is high, Bitcoin’s attractiveness clearly increases), and changes in correlation with traditional safe-haven assets like gold.

Regarding payment functionality, the mainnet does face bottlenecks—slow transaction speeds and high fees. This is why second-layer solutions like the Lightning Network have emerged. The Lightning Network is suitable for small, high-frequency daily payments, while Bitcoin’s main chain, due to its value and longer block confirmation times, is more suitable for large transfers. However, this does not affect Bitcoin’s fundamental value—it’s primary mission is as a store of value.

**Ether: The Economic Engine of the Ecosystem**

The story of Ether is entirely different. Its value does not come from scarcity (Ethereum has no fixed issuance cap), but is tied to the ever-expanding ecosystem. Simply put, Ether is the "lifeblood" and economic foundation of the vast Ethereum ecosystem—DeFi, NFTs, Layer 2 solutions, and various applications—all consume Ether.

Although there is no hard cap on issuance, Ethereum has an important mechanism called EIP-1559—each transaction’s base fee is burned, creating deflationary pressure on Ether. From this perspective, the value support for Ether comes from its practical utility and network effects, rather than just scarcity.