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.
p2p bitcoin bitcoin sportsbook bitcoin шахта ethereum курсы котировки ethereum bitcoin bloomberg bitcoin fire
gadget bitcoin
bitcoin loans bitcoin информация fasterclick bitcoin icons bitcoin cryptocurrency top bitcoin monkey разделение ethereum
mt4 bitcoin bitcoin delphi комиссия bitcoin invest bitcoin bitcoin минфин
ethereum address bitcoin cranes bitcoin shop bitcoin kurs bitcoin monkey bitcoin icons bitcoin trend bitcoin boom математика bitcoin Everything beyond this fundamental reality strays into abstract theory, relying on leaps of faith, hypotheticals and big words that no one understands, all while divorced from individual decision points. It is not that one individual is more trusted than another or one central bank relative to another; it is simply that, on an individual level, no individual is advantaged by someone else having the ability to print money, regardless of identity or interests. That this is true leaves only one alternative, that each individual would be advantaged by ensuring that no other individual or entity has this power. The Fed may have the ability to create dollars at zero cost, but money still doesn’t grow on trees. It is more likely that a particular form of money is not actually money than it is that money miraculously started growing on trees. And at an individual level, everyone is incentivized to ensure that is not the case. While there is a long habit of not thinking this particular thing wrong, the errant defense of custom can only stray so far. Time converts everyone back into reality. At present, it is the Fed’s 'shock and awe' campaign contrasted by the simplicity in bitcoin’s fixed supply of 21 million. There is no amount of reason that can replace an observed divergence in two distinct paths.проект ethereum россия bitcoin android tether bitcoin fire рост ethereum purse bitcoin q bitcoin
purse bitcoin bitcoin earning bitcoin iq status bitcoin bitcoin хардфорк
bitcoin расчет
bitcoin accepted bitcoin config отдам bitcoin bitcoin код bitcoin форк
bitcoin hype ico cryptocurrency
monero настройка торговать bitcoin bitcoin дешевеет ethereum rotator bitcoin cranes bitcoin payeer bitcoin бесплатные bitcoin markets bitcoin исходники bitcoin история приложение tether краны monero bitcoin calc monero обменять
bitcoin masters клиент ethereum
ethereum eth bitcoin gift golang bitcoin ethereum логотип bitcoin site ethereum telegram Although painful for those involved, each bubble leads to broader awareness and motivatesbitcoin банкнота суть bitcoin platinum bitcoin bitcoin окупаемость ethereum обвал ethereum скачать metatrader bitcoin пул bitcoin bitcoin конвертер вклады bitcoin cryptocurrency gold
raiden ethereum bitcoin dat bitcoin japan king bitcoin платформ ethereum bitcoin poloniex bitcoin книга coinder bitcoin The answer isn’t black or white, there are a lot of factors that go into figuring out your own answer. For one thing, some people mine Litecoin as a hobby without worrying about how profitable it is.bitcoin стоимость bitcoin loan ads bitcoin bitcoin location maining bitcoin moon bitcoin рулетка bitcoin ethereum web3 app bitcoin bag bitcoin форк bitcoin регистрация bitcoin трейдинг bitcoin bitcoin мошенники
avto bitcoin история ethereum tether wifi bitcoin flapper bitcoin упал bitcoin capital bitcoin instagram bitcoin сша bitcoin пополнение bitcoin carding bitcoin комиссия cryptonight monero сложность bitcoin bitcoin кран
bitcoin video 20 bitcoin
monero amd ethereum game monero cryptonote
bitcoin фарминг forex bitcoin new bitcoin miningpoolhub ethereum bitcoin форк sell ethereum развод bitcoin bitcoin microsoft ethereum dag
algorithm ethereum ethereum com bitcoin prune ethereum прогноз fasterclick bitcoin bitcoin xl
bitcoin ваучер bitcoin лохотрон исходники bitcoin
ethereum pos ethereum котировки bitcoin sberbank
покупка ethereum bitcoin loto 60 bitcoin lootool bitcoin
monero майнер minergate monero poloniex ethereum bitcoin лопнет
keystore ethereum bitcoin прогноз ethereum course bitcoin flex bitcoin check planet bitcoin This race to solve blockchain puzzles can require an intense amount of computer power and electricity. In practice, that means the miners might barely break even with the crypto they receive for validating transactions, after considering the costs of power and computing resources.ethereum eth ethereum supernova вывод monero bitcoin ethereum xpub bitcoin дешевеет bitcoin компьютер bitcoin bitcoin добыть direct bitcoin bitcoin футболка обменники ethereum bitcoin 1000 эмиссия ethereum
bitcoin смесители b) Proof of Workbitcoin fan bitcoin wallet bitcoin instagram bitcoin delphi okpay bitcoin bitcoin эмиссия
wikipedia ethereum
миксер bitcoin bitcoin bubble автомат bitcoin monero вывод
bitcoin автоматический logo bitcoin love bitcoin кран ethereum bitcoin weekly monero algorithm bitcoin haqida ethereum metropolis bitcoin страна asics bitcoin q bitcoin
ads bitcoin monero пулы пополнить bitcoin бумажник bitcoin x2 bitcoin NiceHash Review: NiceHash offers you to sell and buy hashing power. Selling hashing power is as simple as connecting your miner to our stratum mining pools while buyers can buy hashing power on demand, on pay-as-you-go basis. Claims to bring an innovative easy-to-use and risk-free cloud mining service. You can mine the vast majority of popular coins, based on SHA-256 (Bitcoin, etc.), Scrypt (Litecoin, Dogecoin, etc.), Scrypt-N (Vertcoin, etc.) and X11 (DarkCoin, etc.).monero майнинг кости bitcoin ethereum ios raiden ethereum calculator bitcoin ethereum gas txid bitcoin bitcoin up bitcoin cfd bitcoin wallpaper платформ ethereum ethereum gold half bitcoin ios bitcoin wired tether bitcoin landing bitcoin ферма fork bitcoin монета ethereum
direct bitcoin bitcoin бесплатный prune bitcoin ethereum rig pump bitcoin
monero сложность майнинг bitcoin bitcoin компьютер bitcoin daily server bitcoin geth ethereum bitcoin instant
bitcoin protocol кредиты bitcoin bye bitcoin калькулятор monero okpay bitcoin bitcoin динамика At this moment, miners will be taking care of it as confirmation on those transaction and will be writing them on a thing called ledger.Alice sends Bob 1 BTC, and Bob sends Merchant Carol this 1 BTC for some goods.bitcoin metal bitcoin poloniex ethereum platform ethereum асик monero coin
monero minergate ethereum проекты
виджет bitcoin
ethereum testnet bitcoin tools adc bitcoin iota cryptocurrency pos ethereum bitcoin hesaplama токен bitcoin алгоритмы bitcoin
bitcoin tm bitcoin калькулятор ethereum news китай bitcoin
bitcoin easy bitcoin алматы widget bitcoin ethereum прибыльность ethereum chart spend bitcoin bitcoin выиграть
иконка bitcoin ethereum купить форк bitcoin hacker bitcoin bitcoin курс masternode bitcoin cryptocurrency trade
kraken bitcoin Unlike investing in traditional currencies, bitcoin it is not issued by a central bank or backed by a government, therefore the monetary policy, inflation rates, and economic growth measurements that typically influence the value of currency do not apply to bitcoin.market bitcoin double bitcoin монет bitcoin bitcoin chart bitcoin clicks bitcoin сколько rx580 monero cryptocurrency nem china bitcoin bitcoin ecdsa bitcoin ixbt bitcoin asic platinum bitcoin hardware bitcoin bitcoin valet monero майнить bitcoin минфин bitcoin minecraft
bitcoin air vpn bitcoin удвоить bitcoin куплю ethereum dapps ethereum
bitcoin блок fee bitcoin monero hashrate red bitcoin fee bitcoin mempool bitcoin bitcoin greenaddress reverse tether ethereum php bitcoin kurs майнер monero locals bitcoin bitcoin cz bitcoin вложить исходники bitcoin bitcoin synchronization bitcoin биржи miningpoolhub monero monero майнить bitcoin государство top bitcoin
bitcoin вконтакте
bitcoin майнинга фьючерсы bitcoin monero client bitcoin create eth ethereum electrodynamic tether автомат bitcoin пример bitcoin
ethereum калькулятор jaxx bitcoin These are just two of countless examples, though.проект bitcoin bitcoin алгоритм etherium bitcoin The transaction is known almost immediately by the whole network. But only after a specific amount of time it gets confirmed.bitcoin lurkmore bitcoin криптовалюта блог bitcoin safe bitcoin bitcoin порт bitcoin motherboard ethereum cryptocurrency de bitcoin bitcoin goldman bitcoin cranes bitcoin fpga bitcoin tm bitcoin information monero coin monero сложность usd bitcoin карты bitcoin bitcoin окупаемость bitcoin maps 1 monero More recently, ETH has become valuable to users of financial apps on Ethereum. That's because you can use ETH as collateral for crypto loans, or as a payment system.Bitcoin mining is intentionally designed to be resource-intensive and difficult so that the number of blocks found each day by miners remains steady. Individual blocks must contain a proof of work to be considered valid. This proof of work is verified by other Bitcoin nodes each time they receive a block. Bitcoin uses the hashcash proof-of-work function.testnet bitcoin cryptocurrency market ethereum обменники надежность bitcoin
micro bitcoin bitcoin boom poloniex ethereum bitcoin количество bitcoin зебра bitcoin flex film bitcoin bitcoin main
Ключевое слово
bitcoin оборот создатель ethereum tether coin bitcoin расчет cap bitcoin bitcoin cfd
bitcoin заработок андроид bitcoin
bitcoin аналоги explorer ethereum
icons bitcoin bitcoin клиент bitcoin block bitcoin блокчейн bitcoin indonesia bitcoin addnode ethereum история bitcoin раздача bitcoin покер основатель ethereum
bitcoin сервисы bitcoin блог перспектива bitcoin bitcoin презентация ethereum ico exchange ethereum bitcoin landing видеокарта bitcoin bitcoin переводчик эмиссия bitcoin trading cryptocurrency
Conclusionspay bitcoin продать monero matteo monero bitcoin hub linux bitcoin bitcoin компьютер 999 bitcoin сигналы bitcoin новые bitcoin
добыча bitcoin simplewallet monero miner monero bitcoin database брокеры bitcoin
cryptocurrency charts bitcoin plus ethereum описание rinkeby ethereum
monero курс multiply bitcoin monero криптовалюта зарабатывать bitcoin
bitcoin gadget ставки bitcoin курс bitcoin магазин bitcoin ethereum android bitcoin official
пример bitcoin tether обменник monero краны bitcoin луна location bitcoin ethereum miner bitcoin home bitcoin metatrader bitcoin greenaddress bitcoin atm картинки bitcoin bitcointalk monero bitcoin количество
The range in value of a bitcoin over the year ending in July 2020.By convention, the first transaction in a block is a special transaction that starts a new coin ownedwidget bitcoin bitcoin эфир шифрование bitcoin розыгрыш bitcoin phoenix bitcoin java bitcoin genesis bitcoin circle bitcoin buying bitcoin india bitcoin bitcoin суть bitcoin игры bitcoin настройка bitcoin оборот monero обмен bitcoin 2020 International cryptocurrency transactions are faster than wire transfers too. Wire transfers take about half a day for the money to be moved from one place to another. With cryptocurrencies, transactions take only a matter of minutes or even seconds.bitcoin usd bitcoin iphone bitcoin анимация bitcoin россия pool bitcoin bitcoin оборот ubuntu bitcoin bitcoin ledger x bitcoin bitcoin sign ethereum бесплатно доходность bitcoin инструмент bitcoin tether limited ethereum faucet скрипт bitcoin bitcoin торговля service bitcoin
bitcoin calculator bitcoin block анализ bitcoin сайте bitcoin To be accepted by the rest of the network, a new block must contain a proof-of-work (PoW). The system used is based on Adam Back's 1997 anti-spam scheme, Hashcash. The PoW requires miners to find a number called a nonce, such that when the block content is hashed along with the nonce, the result is numerically smaller than the network's difficulty target.:ch. 8 This proof is easy for any node in the network to verify, but extremely time-consuming to generate, as for a secure cryptographic hash, miners must try many different nonce values (usually the sequence of tested values is the ascending natural numbers: 0, 1, 2, 3, ...:ch. 8) before meeting the difficulty target.bitcoin habr bitcoin сбербанк bitcoin prominer monero pool bitcoin завести tether курс carding bitcoin bazar bitcoin bitcoin loan халява bitcoin настройка bitcoin rocket bitcoin ethereum доллар рынок bitcoin miningpoolhub monero electrum ethereum captcha bitcoin bitcoin конвектор bitcoin usb bitcoin sportsbook love bitcoin bitcoin scan mini bitcoin полевые bitcoin bitcoin explorer bitcoin take visa bitcoin bitcoin комиссия space bitcoin ad bitcoin dogecoin bitcoin
bitcoin redex bitcoin capital bitcoin хабрахабр bitcoin redex On the flip side, if a person loses access to the hardware that contains the bitcoins, the currency is gone forever. It's estimated that as much as $30 billion in bitcoins has been lost or misplaced by miners and investors.bitcoin media
bitcoin today обновление ethereum шифрование bitcoin bitcoin сервисы bitcoin count php bitcoin ethereum обменять bitcoin миксеры collector bitcoin monero nvidia bitcoin магазин bitcoin бесплатные
explorer ethereum
ethereum stratum ethereum foundation
monero github bitcoin cost cryptocurrency ethereum поиск bitcoin tp tether команды bitcoin курс ethereum The Litecoin charts are clean and easy to readе bitcoin ethereum краны
майнеры bitcoin x bitcoin the ethereum trading bitcoin bitcoin mac bitcoin evolution обмен monero
bitcoin фарминг escrow bitcoin краны monero вклады bitcoin bitcoin phoenix
lucky bitcoin ethereum coingecko bitcoin вложить sportsbook bitcoin In the case of Bitcoin, the blockchain was created to secure an immutable ledger of 'monetary' transactions. For transactions involving large amounts of value, this immutability is paramount.bitcoin poloniex bitcoin mail bestexchange bitcoin bitcoin компьютер ropsten ethereum пожертвование bitcoin 8 bitcoin home bitcoin Easy accessbitcoin nvidia bitcoin options bitcoin paper bitcoin litecoin ethereum course
chain bitcoin tether верификация bitcoin earnings exchanges bitcoin
bitcoin комментарии ethereum com bitcoin hardfork nicehash monero
mempool bitcoin сайте bitcoin bitcoin formula cryptocurrency gold monero asic tether перевод майнер ethereum bitcoin обменять bitcoin описание
algorithm bitcoin bitcoin оплатить bitcoin dollar games bitcoin bitcoin покер
tor bitcoin android tether инструкция bitcoin average bitcoin bitcoin приложение bitcoin ann bitcoin tx bitcoin fire продам ethereum bitcoin новости charts bitcoin bitcoin pdf прогноз bitcoin ethereum скачать apple bitcoin перспективы bitcoin получить bitcoin bitcoin pizza bitcoin info продам ethereum server bitcoin
bitcoin генератор
Phase 0: the Beacon Chain will be launched, and the 'finality gadget' will be introduced. This phase is expected to be completed in 2020. BETH ('Beacon ETH') will also be introduced and serve as staking rewards for validators.xbt bitcoin bitcoin зарегистрироваться кошелька ethereum bitcoin network отзывы ethereum bitcoin artikel amazon bitcoin вход bitcoin ethereum decred
история ethereum bitcoin хабрахабр bitcoin терминал the activity of speculating as 'capitalizing on politically caused distortions inethereum torrent ethereum blockchain консультации bitcoin wmx bitcoin word bitcoin лотереи bitcoin bitcoin novosti bitcoin script monero купить scrypt bitcoin bitcoin вклады youtube bitcoin matrix bitcoin simplewallet monero usb bitcoin solo bitcoin bitcoin simple
hd7850 monero bitcoin в in bitcoin bitcoin demo account bitcoin bitcoin 100 ethereum конвертер
ethereum faucets pow bitcoin фри bitcoin cryptocurrency dash token ethereum токен bitcoin ethereum twitter bitcoin dynamics monero биржи The final (and hardest) part is T. This is the variable that represents the actual value of goods traded in bitcoins per year.bitcoin терминал
best bitcoin bitcoin fire