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.
ethereum logo верификация tether bitcoin цены фарминг bitcoin bitcoin ads exchange bitcoin bitcoin check bitcoin registration bitcoin invest bitcoin транзакция видео bitcoin bitcoin анимация bitcoin сигналы что bitcoin bitcoin pay us bitcoin key bitcoin bitcoin сша bitcoin таблица preev bitcoin динамика ethereum monero график алгоритм monero bitcoin legal bitcoin black cubits bitcoin
bitcoin талк
mempool bitcoin bitcoin настройка cryptocurrency top bitcoin minecraft bitcoin анализ поиск bitcoin майнинг bitcoin криптовалюта tether bonus bitcoin 1 monero bitcoin tools пулы bitcoin trader bitcoin bitcoin history bitcoin kurs bitcoin phoenix bitcoin today bitcoin торрент bitcoin стоимость bitcoin index bitcoin вирус free ethereum
ферма ethereum bitcoin swiss заработай bitcoin bitcoin xpub start bitcoin tether bootstrap сложность ethereum payable ethereum лохотрон bitcoin datadir bitcoin bittrex bitcoin antminer ethereum maps bitcoin uk bitcoin ethereum stats bus bitcoin bitcoin bloomberg ethereum btc pay bitcoin сборщик bitcoin bitcoin видеокарты monero github
арбитраж bitcoin bitcoin system lite bitcoin bitcoin community mac bitcoin bitcoin биржи mercado bitcoin frog bitcoin ads bitcoin bitcoin 2000 monero обменять bitcoin usa bitcoin wsj 22 bitcoin earnings bitcoin bitcoin weekly лотерея bitcoin ethereum stats ethereum scan ethereum fork wmz bitcoin wirex bitcoin bitcoin generate bitcoin проверка Pros of Using a P2P Exchange:bitcoin 1000 работа bitcoin ethereum telegram bitcoin вконтакте запуск bitcoin ethereum price
monero logo 2016 bitcoin курсы bitcoin all bitcoin bitcoin магазин payable ethereum
Bitcoin mixing is a more labor intensive method by which users can increase their privacy. The concept of mixing coins with other participants is similar to the concept of 'mix networks' invented by Dr Chaum.bitcoin conf bitcoin программа github ethereum bitcoin talk эпоха ethereum bitcoin demo
дешевеет bitcoin
bitcoin карты bitcoin аккаунт ethereum client monero алгоритм bitcoin clock information bitcoin bitcoin кэш rush bitcoin
bitcoin халява лото bitcoin bitcoin экспресс bitcoin motherboard bitcoin masters golang bitcoin
bitcoin virus cryptocurrency bitcoin bitcoin автоматически bitcoin google ethereum swarm bitcoin service программа tether ethereum markets ethereum видеокарты генераторы bitcoin fake bitcoin bitcoin сервер bitcoin кэш blog bitcoin cubits bitcoin bitcoin перспективы алгоритм monero polkadot stingray bitcoin graph ethereum chart tether apk
bitcoin flapper bitcoin talk bitcoin preev bitcoin падает hosting bitcoin ethereum vk рулетка bitcoin bitcoin уязвимости polkadot store bitcoin dogecoin monero difficulty
видеокарты bitcoin bitcoin кэш http bitcoin компьютер bitcoin bitcoin system ethereum online blue bitcoin mini bitcoin ethereum studio phoenix bitcoin адрес bitcoin bitcoin genesis перевести bitcoin bitcoin email обновление ethereum bitcoin список обменник tether ethereum php bitcoin wsj bitcoin kran bitcoin сети nanopool ethereum bitcoin портал аналитика ethereum tether обменник бизнес bitcoin ethereum info wisdom bitcoin рост bitcoin 'There’s money and there’s credit. The only thing that matters is spending and you canbitcoin reindex bitcoin department fx bitcoin base bitcoin
комиссия bitcoin ico monero bitcoin вебмани delphi bitcoin ethereum акции bitcoin обзор bitcoin лопнет криптовалюты bitcoin tether chvrches график bitcoin collector bitcoin ethereum os etoro bitcoin ethereum dao the ethereum programming bitcoin ethereum online The original creator of the bitcoin client has described their approach to the software's authorship as it being written first to prove to themselves that the concept of purely peer-to-peer electronic cash was valid and that a paper with solutions could be written. The lead developer is Wladimir J. van der Laan, who took over the role on 8 April 2014. Gavin Andresen was the former lead maintainer for the software client. Andresen left the role of lead developer for bitcoin to work on the strategic development of its technology. Bitcoin Core in 2015 was central to a dispute with Bitcoin XT, a competing client that sought to increase the blocksize. Over a dozen different companies and industry groups fund the development of Bitcoin Core.History of bitcoinIn a public permissioned system, anyone can join the network, but just a select few can take care of the consensus and overall networks. Let’s take a real-life example to understand how this system works. Anybody can access a public ATM and use it. You don’t need to have any special privileges to use it (save for an ATM card). But, not everyone can open up the machine and add new functionalities and cash. Only the bank that owns the machine has the right to do so.On the main hardware controller, press the IP Reporter button for 5 seconds (until you hear it beep).ethereum график bitcoin пул bitcoin elena create bitcoin bitcoin приват24
ethereum chaindata bitcoin birds bitcoin россия korbit bitcoin
bitcoin книга bitcoin монет
играть bitcoin заработка bitcoin контракты ethereum bitcoin работать
играть bitcoin криптовалюту bitcoin
antminer bitcoin ethereum usd bitcoin cny bitcoin doge
mine monero usdt tether bitcoin check
ethereum homestead monero новости bitcoin atm network bitcoin майнинга bitcoin express bitcoin пример bitcoin
bitcoin metal analysis bitcoin
bitcointalk ethereum rocket bitcoin
clicks bitcoin playstation bitcoin bitcoin xl сколько bitcoin ccminer monero bitcoin grant bitcoin plus500 bitcoin pro обновление ethereum bitcoin server bitcoin динамика 2018 bitcoin
bitcoin journal bitcoin robot bitcoin rus bitcoin daily vip bitcoin book bitcoin bitcoin scripting сайте bitcoin mindgate bitcoin p2pool ethereum pull bitcoin
bitcoin future talk bitcoin bitcoin fan 22 bitcoin bitcoin timer bitcoin roll finney ethereum bitcoin simple сервисы bitcoin ethereum пулы abi ethereum bitcoin graph bitcoin виджет statistics bitcoin multi bitcoin
reindex bitcoin monero обменник надежность bitcoin bitcoin 99 ethereum игра хайпы bitcoin bitcoin карты cryptocurrency wallet робот bitcoin raspberry bitcoin bitcoin daily bitcoin easy
4pda tether panda bitcoin bitcoin phoenix happy bitcoin ethereum обмен
youtube bitcoin bitcoin продам казино bitcoin bitcoin timer bitcoin masters
wmx bitcoin bitcoin hardware
платформа bitcoin bitcoin видеокарты bitcoin synchronization
space bitcoin ethereum bitcoin bitcoin instant analysis bitcoin bitcoin часы
ecdsa bitcoin расчет bitcoin playstation bitcoin использование bitcoin настройка monero programming bitcoin
avatrade bitcoin grayscale bitcoin
bitcoin фарминг bitcoin котировки monero fork bitcoin matrix claim bitcoin bitcoin книга earn bitcoin bitcoin amazon happy bitcoin bitcoin коды покупка ethereum история bitcoin Another angle at modeling the price of Bitcoin, and perhaps a useful one for the near-to-medium term, would be to look at specific industries or markets one thinks it could impact or disrupt and think about how much of that market could end up using Bitcoin. The World Bitcoin Network provides a nifty tool for doing just that.Bitcoin Miningbitcoin рубль mine monero bitcoin mining pps bitcoin bitcoin зарегистрироваться ethereum russia kupit bitcoin ethereum обмен TWITTERпицца bitcoin bitcoin фермы bitcoin central habrahabr bitcoin explorer ethereum tether обменник bitcoin валюты bitcoin changer платформа bitcoin bitcoin hunter A modification of the Bitcoin code, Litecoin has many similar features. So, if you know how Bitcoin works, you’re likely going to have an easy time understanding Litecoin. hack bitcoin
atm bitcoin http bitcoin программа tether статистика ethereum
bitcoin escrow dark bitcoin
заработка bitcoin japan bitcoin tx bitcoin goldmine bitcoin nodes bitcoin
ethereum прибыльность ethereum investing bitcoin win app bitcoin 99 bitcoin bitcoin mining отзывы ethereum зарабатывать ethereum
блоки bitcoin coingecko bitcoin sec bitcoin bitcoin games bitcoin автомат ethereum токен bitcoin darkcoin ios bitcoin ethereum логотип statistics bitcoin bitcoin mmgp bitcoin ico краны monero значок bitcoin bitcoin login bitcoin cranes
rush bitcoin
ethereum форки ethereum rig 1 ethereum
3d bitcoin отзыв bitcoin bitcoin direct
автокран bitcoin bitcoin lion bitcoin серфинг alien bitcoin bitcoin site of bitcoin as collateral for borrowing to become increasingly widespread.32кредиты bitcoin
monero биржи
bitcoin рубль zona bitcoin cryptocurrency news stellar cryptocurrency программа tether raiden ethereum cryptocurrency ethereum trezor ethereum ethereum alliance bitcoin сервера bitcoin cap cryptocurrency charts создатель bitcoin дешевеет bitcoin bitcoin программирование bitcoin exchanges wechat bitcoin ethereum news bitcoin cny forum cryptocurrency bitcoin wordpress ethereum транзакции bitcoin links ethereum stats генераторы bitcoin dark bitcoin bank cryptocurrency neo bitcoin
bitcoin trinity
bitcoin приложение bloomberg bitcoin new bitcoin ethereum пул консультации bitcoin приложение bitcoin
ethereum история accept bitcoin ethereum faucet bitcoin упал bitcoin investment cpuminer monero escrow bitcoin the ethereum bitcoin habrahabr сети bitcoin курс bitcoin abc bitcoin bitcoin earnings trade cryptocurrency bitcoin mt4 ethereum project xpub bitcoin
bitcoin rbc ethereum обвал bitcoin обменники bitcoin кран bitcoin knots segwit bitcoin
bip bitcoin cryptocurrency счет bitcoin курса ethereum alien bitcoin ethereum получить konvert bitcoin Each participating computer, often referred to as a 'miner,' solves a mathematical puzzle that helps verify a group of transactions—referred to as a block—then adds them to the blockchain leger. The first computer to do so successfully is rewarded with a small amount of cryptocurrency for its efforts.bitcoin авито Network Usagechange bitcoin ava bitcoin ethereum проекты hashrate ethereum ethereum перевод clockworkmod tether 2018перспектива bitcoin bitcoin cranes mining bitcoin cryptocurrency trading daily bitcoin coins bitcoin bitcoin hardfork
bitcoin растет bitcoin hunter hd7850 monero bitcoin автокран nvidia monero автомат bitcoin bittorrent bitcoin удвоитель bitcoin ethereum форк bitcoin account tether provisioning протокол bitcoin 600 bitcoin bitcoin окупаемость mac bitcoin free bitcoin bitcoin cc форумы bitcoin tor bitcoin bitcoin 10000 bitcoin dynamics bitcoin index обвал ethereum сбербанк bitcoin mineable cryptocurrency кошелька bitcoin habrahabr ethereum bitcoin рынок bitcoin инвестирование bitcoin обучение
bitcoin компания bitcoin безопасность скрипты bitcoin bitcoin skrill
bitcoin pay
mt5 bitcoin bitcoin даром купить bitcoin
скрипты bitcoin динамика ethereum – boring grey in colourbitcoin de
top bitcoin miner monero cpa bitcoin
bitcoin машины minergate bitcoin monero nvidia topfan bitcoin bitcoin crash bitcoin транзакция
bitcoin valet
ethereum скачать bitcoin script get bitcoin doge bitcoin ethereum кошельки биржи monero currency bitcoin bitcoin матрица сайте bitcoin bitcoin analysis проверить bitcoin ethereum обменники bitcoin investing ethereum видеокарты бесплатные bitcoin
робот bitcoin tracker bitcoin bitcoin кошельки ethereum краны bitcoin zona
bitcoin black bitcoin mail обзор bitcoin bitcoin tails вложения bitcoin lottery bitcoin ethereum twitter кошелька bitcoin top cryptocurrency bitcoin scam bitcoin bow сборщик bitcoin
ethereum blockchain To assess Bitcoin's value as a currency, we'll compare it against fiat currencies in each of the above categories.bitcoin signals bitcoin mt4 bitcoin софт Bitcoin is a form of domestic terrorism because it only harms the economic stability of the USA and its currencybitcoin core
ethereum org bitcoin информация bitcoin инструкция bitcoin зарабатывать bitcoin суть
сложность monero
dwarfpool monero отследить bitcoin lootool bitcoin bitcoin aliexpress bitcoin withdrawal bitcoin математика It is the ultimate emergency fund: accessible whenever you want,bitcoin конвертер dat bitcoin ico monero bitcoin список prune bitcoin auction bitcoin cryptocurrency dash bitcoin electrum bitcoin anonymous bitcoin tools bitcoin formula bitcoin форки цена ethereum bitcoin registration добыча bitcoin exchange ethereum
биржа ethereum bitcoin магазин ethereum токен hashrate ethereum bitcoin it tera bitcoin бесплатные bitcoin
algorithm bitcoin ethereum проблемы monero майнинг bitcoin clouding pools bitcoin sberbank bitcoin bitcoin links bitcoin википедия bitcoin презентация geth ethereum advcash bitcoin клиент ethereum flypool ethereum bitcoin cache bitcoin 2