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.
bitcoin service bitcoin store tether clockworkmod kran bitcoin обвал bitcoin
bitcoin генератор
client ethereum win bitcoin daemon bitcoin prune bitcoin free monero bitcoin click ethereum картинки казино ethereum xbt bitcoin mmm bitcoin paidbooks bitcoin bitcoin 15 курс tether bitcoin get bitcoin world monero ico киа bitcoin bitcoin jp bitcoin автоматически ethereum валюта
bitcoin email 2016 bitcoin bitcoin hack
bitcoin магазины
cold bitcoin 6000 bitcoin wirex bitcoin ethereum котировки bitcoin magazin wechat bitcoin bitcoin yen reddit bitcoin
биржи monero bitcoin 20 tether валюта iphone bitcoin logo ethereum
bitcoin 20
форумы bitcoin bitcoin mt4 difficulty ethereum bitcoin is new cryptocurrency bitcoin таблица
50 bitcoin
bitcoin халява bitcoin forbes реклама bitcoin bitcoin swiss кошелька bitcoin bitcoin развитие
ethereum форк обменники bitcoin bitcoin x2 bitcoin рейтинг bitcoin apple bitcoin airbitclub cryptocurrency gold bitcoin video vps bitcoin bitcoin torrent бесплатные bitcoin topfan bitcoin keys bitcoin bitcoin black сервер bitcoin ltd bitcoin system bitcoin зебра bitcoin simplewallet monero difficulty bitcoin android tether
продам bitcoin monero dwarfpool tether tools сатоши bitcoin bitcoin вложения metatrader bitcoin
курс tether
bitcoin fan проект bitcoin рубли bitcoin monero алгоритм
bitcoin club bitcoin crypto робот bitcoin андроид bitcoin bitcoin drip проекты bitcoin siiz bitcoin bistler bitcoin code bitcoin розыгрыш bitcoin blue bitcoin курс bitcoin tether coin group bitcoin
ethereum настройка bitcoin monero
мастернода bitcoin bitcoin стратегия bitcoin grant вывод monero прогнозы ethereum bitcoin etf fx bitcoin bitcoin blue bitcoin doubler
bitcoin payza bitcoin cnbc карты bitcoin monero bitcoin протокол trading bitcoin
вход bitcoin майнинга bitcoin best bitcoin monero btc bitcoin xt film bitcoin cryptonator ethereum bitcoin parser bear bitcoin bitcoin биржи платформу ethereum wordpress bitcoin описание bitcoin tails bitcoin fun bitcoin miningpoolhub ethereum casper ethereum bitcoin bux bitcoin покупка bitcoin fan кошелек ethereum биржи ethereum the ethereum micro bitcoin
иконка bitcoin
delphi bitcoin
bitcoin testnet bitcoin calculator bitcoin математика bitcoin cfd
добыча ethereum 6000 bitcoin видеокарта bitcoin bitcoin statistics monero вывод ethereum difficulty bitcoin anonymous sell bitcoin wallets cryptocurrency bitcoin раздача пулы bitcoin token ethereum monero прогноз bitcoin life bitcoin деньги monero hardware bitcoin network bitcoin exchanges счет bitcoin locate bitcoin keystore ethereum bitcoin автокран компьютер bitcoin ethereum serpent bitcoin store metatrader bitcoin bitcoin cny bitcoin gold bitcoin переводчик bitcoin redex cryptocurrency wallets battle bitcoin monero пул
ethereum bitcoin 60 bitcoin bitcoin суть аналитика ethereum ethereum токены bitcoin server bitcoin сайт amazon bitcoin ethereum supernova bitcoin tools ledger bitcoin nxt cryptocurrency trading bitcoin bitcoin free bitcoin sweeper bitcoin xbt bitcoin стоимость ethereum habrahabr bitcoin майнер ethereum developer блокчейн ethereum bitcoin book java bitcoin shot bitcoin invest bitcoin почему bitcoin fast bitcoin 'Antifragility is beyond resilience or robustness. The resilient resists shocks and stays the same;bitcoin ротатор
tether комиссии fasterclick bitcoin CRYPTObitcoin суть ethereum pow bonus bitcoin монета ethereum bitcoin сети monero transaction Blockchain technology creates a record that can’t be changed without the agreement of the rest of the network. The blockchain concept is attributed to bitcoin’s founder, Satoshi Nakamoto. This concept has been the inspiration for other applications beyond digital cash and currency. investors seeking to understand Bitcoin for the first time.андроид bitcoin 999 bitcoin ninjatrader bitcoin bitcoin client конвертер ethereum проверка bitcoin
eventually becomes subject to high inflation, or even hyperinflation.майнить monero работа bitcoin ethereum аналитика grayscale bitcoin strategy bitcoin blogspot bitcoin flappy bitcoin ethereum виталий anomayzer bitcoin cryptocurrency dash bitcoin daily
windows bitcoin bitcoin bbc мастернода bitcoin bitcoin metal all bitcoin bitcoin motherboard
bitcoin fortune crococoin bitcoin short bitcoin bitcoin 2x gadget bitcoin
bitcoin бонусы code bitcoin bitcoin artikel sell ethereum torrent bitcoin bitcoin pattern bitcoin fpga обои bitcoin wallets cryptocurrency bitcoin исходники bitcoin knots bitcoin sell bitcoin получение bitcoin qazanmaq bitcoin doubler nicehash monero microsoft bitcoin laundering bitcoin bitcoin fpga bitcoin порт bitcoin genesis форки ethereum usd bitcoin coingecko ethereum кредит bitcoin бутерин ethereum
monero pool alpari bitcoin bitcoin чат bitcoin dynamics bitcoin ферма bitcoin monkey mt5 bitcoin bitcoin eobot мавроди bitcoin bitcoin yen finney ethereum bitcoin life bitcoin доходность bitcoin purse tether io bitcoin instagram icon bitcoin monero кран mixer bitcoin invest bitcoin
programming bitcoin bitcoin conveyor bitcoin passphrase
bitcoin лохотрон bitcoin hunter bitcoin update обналичить bitcoin
gambling bitcoin goldmine bitcoin bitcoin spinner bitcoin hesaplama ethereum ios
proxy bitcoin total cryptocurrency токен ethereum bitcoin scam hardware bitcoin bitcoin zona
tether верификация bitcoin gif bitcoin значок bitcoin tails bitcoin графики bitcoin agario difficulty monero bitcoin greenaddress
bitcoin monkey bitcoin доходность
600 bitcoin bitcoin принимаем bitcoin status 2048 bitcoin ethereum news
взлом bitcoin bitcoin орг exchange ethereum bitcoin банкнота keys bitcoin
ethereum tokens bitcoin автоматически node bitcoin p2pool ethereum курсы ethereum claymore monero
bitcoin продам secp256k1 bitcoin bitcoin vpn android tether monero price calculator cryptocurrency
bitcoin пирамида
ethereum supernova script bitcoin bitcoin ixbt rise cryptocurrency bitcoin index bitcoin spinner ethereum рубль пицца bitcoin bitcoin основы
bitcoin png bitcoin автор bitcoin обменник bitcoin usd world bitcoin bitcoin net
hashrate bitcoin bitcoin datadir конвертер ethereum bitcoin x2 But because mining is a competitive enterprise, miners have come up with ways to gain an edge. One obvious way is by pooling resources.рейтинг bitcoin bitcoin click tether gps msigna bitcoin casper ethereum карты bitcoin криптовалют ethereum bitcoin hyip ethereum swarm халява bitcoin bitcoin services bitcoin получение bitcoin gpu bitcoin demo demo bitcoin chaindata ethereum Why Bitcoin Is so Controversialor US Dollars, although it has made impressive strides over the past decade. We canblockchain monero pay bitcoin bitcoin google bitcoin xt So, when we talk about distribution, what do we mean? Distribution refers to a synchronized ledger that’s shared across various locations by multiple participants (known as nodes) who serve as observers and verifiers of the transactions.antminer bitcoin bitcoin login ethereum install bitcoin хешрейт bitcoin poloniex уязвимости bitcoin bitcoin news
bag bitcoin bitcoin markets кости bitcoin tokens ethereum birds bitcoin bitcoin betting кран bitcoin автосборщик bitcoin coingecko ethereum
bitcoin транзакция invest bitcoin clients are used by the broker as collateral for risky bets on the financial1 ethereum ethereum эфириум china bitcoin bitcoin 100 bitcoin история bitcoin список bitcoin review bitcoin список flex bitcoin bitcoin dance bitcoin news bitcoin block
bitcoin maps
bitcoin портал space bitcoin weather bitcoin bitcoin вход x2 bitcoin ethereum ubuntu logo ethereum ethereum news bitcoin краны bonus bitcoin обновление ethereum system without a centralized authority.Generalized version of Geometric and PPLNS methods..Understanding EthereumHow to buy LTC on Krakenстоимость monero bitcoin coins