Bitcoin vs. Ethereum: What's the Difference?
FACEBOOK
TWITTER
LINKEDIN
By NATHAN REIFF
Reviewed By SOMER ANDERSON
Updated Jun 16, 2020
Bitcoin vs. Ethereum: An Overview
Ether (ETH), the cryptocurrency of the Ethereum network, is arguably the second most popular digital token after bitcoin (BTC). Indeed, as the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, comparisons between Ether and BTC are only natural.
Ether and bitcoin are similar in many ways: each is a digital currency traded via online exchanges and stored in various types of cryptocurrency wallets. Both of these tokens are decentralized, meaning that they are not issued or regulated by a central bank or other authority. Both make use of the distributed ledger technology known as blockchain. However, there are also many crucial distinctions between the two most popular cryptocurrencies by market cap. Below, we'll take a closer look at the similarities and differences between bitcoin and ether.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Bitcoin signaled the emergence of a radically new form of digital money that operates outside the control of any government or corporation.
With time, people began to realize that one of the underlying innovations of bitcoin, the blockchain, could be utilized for other purposes.
Ethereum proposed to utilize blockchain technology not only for maintaining a decentralized payment network but also for storing computer code which can be used to power tamper-proof decentralized financial contracts and applications.
Ethereum applications and contracts are powered by ether, the Ethereum network’s currency.
Ether was intended to complement rather than compete with bitcoin, but it has nonetheless emerged as a competitor on cryptocurrency exchanges.
Bitcoin Basics
Bitcoin was launched in January of 2009. It introduced a novel idea set out in a white paper by the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto—bitcoin offers the promise of an online currency that is secured without any central authority, unlike government-issued currencies. There are no physical bitcoins, only balances associated with a cryptographically secured public ledger. Although bitcoin was not the first attempts at an online currency of this type, it was the most successful in its early efforts, and it has come to be known as a predecessor in some way to virtually all cryptocurrencies which have been developed over the past decade.1
Over the years, the concept of a virtual, decentralized currency has gained acceptance among regulators and government bodies. Although it isn’t a formally recognized medium of payment or store of value, cryptocurrency has managed to carve out a niche for itself and continues to coexist with the financial system despite being regularly scrutinized and debated.
At the start of the cryptocurrency boom in 2017, Bitcoin’s market value accounted for close to 87% of the total cryptocurrency market.
Ethereum Basics
Blockchain technology is being used to create applications that go beyond just enabling a digital currency. Launched in July of 2015, Ethereum is the largest and most well-established, open-ended decentralized software platform.
Ethereum enables the deployment of smart contracts and decentralized applications (dapps) to be built and run without any downtime, fraud, control or interference from a third party. Ethereum comes complete with its own programming language which runs on a blockchain, enabling developers to build and run distributed applications.
The potential applications of Ethereum are wide-ranging and are powered by its native cryptographic token, ether (commonly abbreviated as ETH). In 2014, Ethereum launched a presale for ether, which received an overwhelming response. Ether is like the fuel for running commands on the Ethereum platform and is used by developers to build and run applications on the platform.
Ether is used mainly for two purposes—it is traded as a digital currency on exchanges in the same fashion as other cryptocurrencies, and it is used on the Ethereum network to run applications. According to Ethereum, “people all over the world use ETH to make payments, as a store of value, or as collateral.”2
Key Differences
While both the Bitcoin and Ethereum networks are powered by the principle of distributed ledgers and cryptography, the two differ technically in many ways. For example, transactions on the Ethereum network may contain executable code, while data affixed to Bitcoin network transactions are generally only for keeping notes. Other differences include block time (an ether transaction is confirmed in seconds compared to minutes for bitcoin) and the algorithms that they run on (Ethereum uses ethash while Bitcoin uses SHA-256).
More importantly, though, the Bitcoin and Ethereum networks are different with respect to their overall aims. While bitcoin was created as an alternative to national currencies and thus aspires to be a medium of exchange and a store of value, Ethereum was intended as a platform to facilitate immutable, programmatic contracts, and applications via its own currency.
BTC and ETH are both digital currencies, but the primary purpose of ether is not to establish itself as an alternative monetary system, but rather to facilitate and monetize the operation of the Ethereum smart contract and decentralized application (dapp) platform.
Ethereum is another use-case for a blockchain that supports the Bitcoin network, and theoretically should not really compete with Bitcoin. However, the popularity of ether has pushed it into competition with all cryptocurrencies, especially from the perspective of traders. For most of its history since the mid-2015 launch, ether has been close behind bitcoin on rankings of the top cryptocurrencies by market cap. That being said, it's important to keep in mind that the ether ecosystem is much smaller than bitcoin's: as of January 2020, ether's market cap was just under $16 billion, while bitcoin's is nearly 10 times that at more than $147 billion.
A common misconception of Bitcoin is that it is just one of thousands of cryptoassets in the world today. One may be forgiven for this misunderstanding, as our world today is home to many national currencies. But all these currencies began as warehouse receipts for the same type of thing—namely, monetary metal (usually gold). Today, national currencies are not redeemable for gold, and are instead liquid equity units in a pyramid scheme called fiat currency: a hierarchy of thievery built on top of the freely selected money of the world (gold) which their issuers (central banks) hoard to manipulate its price, insulate their inferior fiat currencies from competitive threats, and perpetually extract wealth from those lower down the pyramid.free monero
torrent bitcoin
bitcoin pizza cryptocurrency wallet mikrotik bitcoin bitcoin legal генератор bitcoin криптовалюта tether price bitcoin by bitcoin ethereum stats monero новости ethereum api bitcoin пирамида bitcoin faucets ethereum алгоритм bitcoin лучшие bitcoin lucky webmoney bitcoin и bitcoin bitcoin ваучер swarm ethereum часы bitcoin bitcoin сервера добыча bitcoin ninjatrader bitcoin kupit bitcoin all cryptocurrency
bitcoin cli eos cryptocurrency bitcoin explorer форк bitcoin keys bitcoin bitcoin analytics bitcoin обои ethereum block daemon monero bitcoin balance ecdsa bitcoin wikipedia bitcoin minergate bitcoin bitcoin взлом bitcoin paper игра ethereum masternode bitcoin tether транскрипция ethereum скачать
создатель bitcoin
sgminer monero кошель bitcoin ethereum bonus bitcoin atm bitcoin книга forex bitcoin
kupit bitcoin bitcoin транзакция bitcoin fan bitcoin protocol проверить bitcoin bitcoin core tp tether monero spelunker bitcoin обналичить tether gps bitcoin ru
проблемы bitcoin bitcoin приложение blockchain bitcoin script bitcoin bitcoin 10000 information bitcoin bitcoin 1000 bitcoin withdrawal bitcoin терминалы panda bitcoin reklama bitcoin king bitcoin
bitcoin widget bittorrent bitcoin delphi bitcoin bitcoin cnbc bitcoin 2010 avatrade bitcoin бесплатный bitcoin
polkadot ico продать monero bitcoin adder приват24 bitcoin
рост bitcoin
bitcoin base bitcoin ставки bitcoin scripting ethereum russia создатель bitcoin bitcoin путин дешевеет bitcoin bitcoin betting fpga ethereum bitcoin scripting xpub bitcoin bitcoin crash tether coin
ios bitcoin bitcoin brokers pos ethereum
bitcoin bloomberg bitcoin anonymous short bitcoin reindex bitcoin рубли bitcoin
microsoft ethereum магазин bitcoin tether ico робот bitcoin ethereum programming bitcoin создать обсуждение bitcoin hosting bitcoin bitcoin cli bitcoin удвоитель bitcoin аккаунт 4. Economics and supply distributionсложность monero dollar bitcoin bitcoin картинка bitcoin com cran bitcoin bitcoin картинка bitcoin 99 bitcoin растет bitcoin инструкция bitcoin ann win bitcoin заработка bitcoin алгоритм ethereum electrum ethereum ethereum org bitcoin electrum bitcoin гарант запросы bitcoin bitcoin price ethereum alliance accept bitcoin программа tether
lealana bitcoin bitcoin otc cryptocurrency charts bitcoin legal decred ethereum эпоха ethereum bitcoin millionaire bitcoin сбор
bitcoin 4000 bitcoin login Since it’s unlikely all groups have 100% incentive alignment at all times, the ability for each group to coordinate around their common incentives is critical for them to affect change. If one group can coordinate better than another, it creates power imbalances in their favor.Some projects have chosen to reduce the likelihood of a 'delicate balance of terror' by resisting the participation of ASIC miners. A common approach is to modify the Proof-of-Work algorithm to require more RAM to compute the block hash; this effectively makes ASIC miners more expensive (and therefore riskier) to manufacture. However, this is a temporary measure, assuming the network grows and survives; as the underlying cryptocurrency becomes more valuable, manufacturers are incentivized to roll out these products, as evidenced in Zcash, Ethereum, and potentially the Grin/Mimblewimble project. исходники bitcoin moto bitcoin ethereum gas bitcoin софт homestead ethereum wallets cryptocurrency monero hashrate home bitcoin mine monero 10000 bitcoin перевод tether pow bitcoin котировки ethereum bitcoin airbit bittorrent bitcoin bitcoin bonus bitcoin bbc ethereum habrahabr bitcoin таблица bitcoin cranes bitcoin address bitcoin nvidia bitcoin elena
reddit ethereum bitcoin nodes bitcoin транзакция cryptocurrency это kong bitcoin робот bitcoin up bitcoin bitcoin форекс ethereum график bitcoin nachrichten ethereum swarm monero майнить chaindata ethereum бонусы bitcoin bitcoin 20
bitcoin зарегистрироваться bitcoin лохотрон
bitcoin зарегистрироваться сбербанк bitcoin bitcoin darkcoin монета ethereum bitcoin bbc vpn bitcoin виталий ethereum
история ethereum bitcoin scrypt прогнозы bitcoin red bitcoin bitcoin surf monero стоимость sgminer monero bitcoin co trading cryptocurrency bitcoin crash ethereum прогнозы исходники bitcoin bitcoin 2048 сайт ethereum перспектива bitcoin системе bitcoin wikipedia cryptocurrency fpga bitcoin bitcoin рухнул monero usd bitcoin мастернода обмен ethereum
claim bitcoin bitcoin стоимость ebay bitcoin cryptocurrency calendar bitcoin school adbc bitcoin bitcoin reward mmgp bitcoin
ann bitcoin ethereum картинки bitcoin валюты forbot bitcoin проекта ethereum bitcoin chains wallet tether bitcoin half chvrches tether bear bitcoin
total cryptocurrency bitcoin калькулятор ethereum cpu bitcoin 1000 utxo bitcoin bitcoin airbitclub майнинг bitcoin bitcoin удвоить bestexchange bitcoin ethereum монета miner monero wirex bitcoin Fundamentals of BlockchainLіtесоіn (LTC оr Ł ) is a рееr-tо-рееr сrурtосurrеnсу аnd open ѕоurсе software project released under MIT/X11 lісеnѕеѕ. Crеаtіоn аnd transfer оf соіnѕ іѕ bаѕеd on an ореn source сrурtоgrарhіс рrоtосоl and іѕ nоt mаnаgеd bу аnу сеntrаl authority. Whіlе inspired bу, and in mоѕt regards technically almost іdеntісаl tо Bіtсоіn (BTC), Litecoin іѕ far quісkеr аnd cheaper.bitcoin 3 bitcoin metatrader konvertor bitcoin bitcoin государство bitcoin перевести видеокарты ethereum fx bitcoin зарегистрироваться bitcoin
ethereum обвал bitcoin play bitcoin pattern bitcoin map bitcoin bio
bitcoin завести payeer bitcoin вклады bitcoin bitcoin timer
wiki bitcoin tether clockworkmod
global bitcoin bitcoin elena exchange bitcoin
bitcoin daemon
monero пул bitcoin cz bitcoin facebook plasma ethereum withdraw bitcoin epay bitcoin bitcoin сайты de bitcoin bitcoin статистика opencart bitcoin captcha bitcoin bitcoin сигналы bitcoin book trade bitcoin майнер monero bitcoin обзор
анализ bitcoin майнер bitcoin ethereum course bitcoin казахстан ethereum инвестинг store bitcoin 1080 ethereum bitcoin project bitcoin добыть avatrade bitcoin exchange monero hyip bitcoin python bitcoin bitcoin динамика ethereum отзывы bitcoin arbitrage pixel bitcoin bitcoin magazin q bitcoin cpuminer monero сложность bitcoin my ethereum калькулятор ethereum gadget bitcoin япония bitcoin bitcoin tm bitcoin trend fast bitcoin nvidia monero bitcoin zone форк ethereum ферма bitcoin бонус bitcoin 0 bitcoin tether программа android tether bitcoin доходность eth ethereum ethereum прогноз bitcoin шахты tera bitcoin дешевеет bitcoin ethereum 1070 ethereum myetherwallet Blockchain explained: centralized systems vs blockchain.earnings bitcoin bitcoin обвал bitcoin расшифровка ethereum io coinder bitcoin bitcoin кликер рост bitcoin
разделение ethereum 5 bitcoin
loans bitcoin токен bitcoin ethereum проекты bitcoin гарант брокеры bitcoin zcash bitcoin дешевеет bitcoin Create new transactions and smart contractsгенераторы bitcoin cronox bitcoin bitcoin скачать transactions bitcoin bitcoin продам
обзор bitcoin ann ethereum bitcoin qiwi
habrahabr bitcoin app bitcoin bitcoin зарегистрировать get bitcoin bitcoin автомат ethereum игра е bitcoin bitcoin trojan bitcoin vip ethereum видеокарты bitcoin mixer bitcoin goldmine bitcoin stock monero новости
шифрование bitcoin bitcoin оплатить Now that you know how Blockchain wallets work, it is imperative that you should know about their features. Here are some of the important features of Blockchain wallets:pos bitcoin It may seem that the group of individuals most directly affected by the limit of the bitcoin supply will be the bitcoin miners themselves. Some detractors of the protocol claim that miners will be forced away from the block rewards they receive for their work once the bitcoin supply has reached 21 million in circulation.connect bitcoin bitcoin hesaplama
google bitcoin bitcoin laundering loco bitcoin
bitcoin автокран компиляция bitcoin scrypt bitcoin wikipedia cryptocurrency
bitcoin elena алгоритм monero bitcoin проверить пузырь bitcoin bitcoin 50000 bitcoin crush location bitcoin bitcoin банк maps bitcoin bitcoin today ethereum обвал bitcoin trojan pirates bitcoin платформу ethereum The transfer limits for your or your friend’s account could have been exceeded.ethereum покупка ethereum контракт supernova ethereum GET UP TO $132lootool bitcoin обменник bitcoin bitcoin автосерфинг debian bitcoin uk bitcoin litecoin bitcoin Monetary commodities have high stock-to-flow ratios, which refers to the ratio between the amount of that commodity that is stored (aka 'the stock') and the amount of that commodity that is newly-produced each year (aka 'the flow').удвоитель bitcoin Understanding Cryptocurrency Mining Poolslinux bitcoin bitcoin registration waves cryptocurrency символ bitcoin ethereum gas pro100business bitcoin bitcoin wm
best bitcoin bitcoin fortune bitcoin golden краны ethereum ethereum новости ethereum supernova faucet bitcoin roulette bitcoin bitcoin invest bitcoin map фарминг bitcoin bitcoin fees bitcoin take обналичивание bitcoin stealer bitcoin
safe bitcoin обзор bitcoin bitcoin landing bank bitcoin bitcoin cranes курс bitcoin суть bitcoin bitcoin алгоритм cms bitcoin zcash bitcoin bitcoin заработок monero курс bitcoin торговля bitcoin register bitcoin tm Your wallet software will also need to learn the history and balance of its wallet. For a lightweight wallet this usually involves querying a third-party server which leads to a privacy problem as that server can spy on you by seeing your entire balance, all your transactions and usually linking it with your IP address. Using a full node avoids this problem because the software connects directly to the bitcoin p2p network and downloads the entire blockchain, so any adversary will find it much harder to obtain information. See also: Anonymityminergate bitcoin tcc bitcoin minergate ethereum bitcoin подтверждение ethereum stats utxo bitcoin
monster bitcoin ethereum алгоритм bitcoin ваучер bitcoin protocol платформу ethereum bus bitcoin monero coin pirates bitcoin
bitcoin pizza bitcoin china explorer ethereum