What is the basic difference bitcoin and ethereum?

[fuguebtc]

Many people frequently ask is bitcoin better or is ethereum better.
Both were created with two different missions.
Bitcoin blockchain created a public and peer-to-peer online payment system: Peer to Peer Electronic Cash.
Ethereum blockchain create distributed computing system: Decentralized Computation. Ethereum allows developers to build and deploy decentralized applications (DApps). Decentralized applications are run from source code running on the blockchain network so these applications are not controlled by any individual or organization.

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[Yogee]

...Decentralized applications are run from source code running on the blockchain network so these applications are not controlled by any individual or organization.

The "decentralized" in Dapps is quite misleading. You could interact with these applications without the need of a middle man but I wouldn't go as far as saying nobody can control them. I am pretty sure you've read about hacked DeFi platforms freezing activities like farming and staking pools.

[Teknisi88]

Many people frequently ask is bitcoin better or is ethereum better.
Both were created with two different missions.
Bitcoin blockchain created a public and peer-to-peer online payment system: Peer to Peer Electronic Cash.
Ethereum blockchain create distributed computing system: Decentralized Computation. Ethereum allows developers to build and deploy decentralized applications (DApps). Decentralized applications are run from source code running on the blockchain network so these applications are not controlled by any individual or organization.

While still volatile, Bitcoin is arguably one of the most stable cryptocurrencies with a long history, and has been the most consistent investment asset to date.
And Ethereum has been updated to create new ETH through a process called Proof of stake (PoS). With it, users can force collateral in the form of ETH to be a validator on the network. if there is more ETH then the value will be higher because there is only a little ETH in circulation.

[sunsilk]

There is no need for the comparison of two. The descriptions were right and you've forgotten that both are being also used as a store of value.

Using smart contracts for Ethereum, you can make as much projects as developers can. And that's why we see various projects made from its blockchain.

[milewilda]

Just to add up some key differences.

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).


Link source: https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/031416/bitcoin-vs-ethereum-driven-different-purposes.asp

[speedforce]

...Decentralized applications are run from source code running on the blockchain network so these applications are not controlled by any individual or organization.

The "decentralized" in Dapps is quite misleading. You could interact with these applications without the need of a middle man but I wouldn't go as far as saying nobody can control them. I am pretty sure you've read about hacked DeFi platforms freezing activities like farming and staking pools.

I expect the term that cant controlled by any individual or organization is that if the dApps already deployed, the code cant be changed anymore.
Its not like an traditional apps where someone could update the apps and inject virus on it.

[Baofeng]

...Decentralized applications are run from source code running on the blockchain network so these applications are not controlled by any individual or organization.

The "decentralized" in Dapps is quite misleading. You could interact with these applications without the need of a middle man but I wouldn't go as far as saying nobody can control them. I am pretty sure you've read about hacked DeFi platforms freezing activities like farming and staking pools.

And it's also hard to update Dapps, and much harder to maintain, specially if it become too complex.

For the updates, you need every node to comply so it might take some time as other nodes might not cooperate, you need a consensus, per se.

And then the security risks that you mentioned, it's the most important part of maintaining Dapps. So I would say it has it's limitations as compare to bitcoin.

[defi-Dany]

The two are not comparable.
Bitcoin established the status of cryptocurrency and is the king of cryptocurrency.
Ethereum is the king of altcoin and focuses on application.

[goaldigger]

There is no need for the comparison of two. The descriptions were right and you've forgotten that both are being also used as a store of value.

Using smart contracts for Ethereum, you can make as much projects as developers can. And that's why we see various projects made from its blockchain.

It's normal for people to compare this two top coins and decide later on which they'll invest their money.

They both have different network and different purpose, it's more of a store value for Bitcoin and the  ETH network are widely used to create more projects under its network.

ETH and BTC are grows a lot over the past years, I'd appreciate how they lead this market into a good opportunity for everybody. I'm sure most of us here are holding this top two coins, that's one of the best decision we've ever made.

[Kemarit]

The two are not comparable.
Bitcoin established the status of cryptocurrency and is the king of cryptocurrency.
Ethereum is the king of altcoin and focuses on application.

Maybe the OP is comparing as far as the decentralization aspect is concern.

Of course, each is very different, but I would say that Ethereum is far more flexible because of it's dApps. And more devs are into it obviously as they would have to create applications that will work hand in hand with the dApps. And there are competitions already for Ethereum but nevertheless they still on the top of the competition despite many great crypto competing against them. dApps still remains relevant.

[Luffygroove]

As a pioneer in the crypto sphere, bitcoin has many advantages but also weaknesses. This project has been abandoned by Satoshi Nakamoto thou' I believe there are still many things that can be done. It becomes an obelisk for the crypto community and still has become the standard until now. However, Ethereum is still developing each day to become more sophisticated. It grows with technology and innovation like DeFi etc. Vitalik seems working hard for his baby. I won't be surprised if ethereum will be more superior in the near future.

[Xinarae*]

The difference between bitcoin and ethereum is that bitcoin tops all currencies in crypto. The currency of bitcoin is known as bitcoin and was targeted as the only alternative currency without any intermediaries like the central bank this allows anonymous transactions directly between the buyer and the seller ethereum The coin of ethereum the king of altcoin is known as ether. Although transactions are similar to bitcoin anonymously and digitally each transaction may contain much more information than a bitcoin transaction.

[DapanasFruit]

...Decentralized applications are run from source code running on the blockchain network so these applications are not controlled by any individual or organization.

The "decentralized" in Dapps is quite misleading. You could interact with these applications without the need of a middle man but I wouldn't go as far as saying nobody can control them. I am pretty sure you've read about hacked DeFi platforms freezing activities like farming and staking pools.

Yeah, I see what you mean. We are assuming that since Dapp is decentralized it can not be intruded or hacked but no the reality is so different based on many instances we already seen and even experienced for the past years. Well, this can be categorized under the "you can't have your cake and eat it too" thing. Anyway, am still hoping that there comes a time when we can really witness Ethereum and even Bitcoin for that matter fulfill their full potential.

[Nora Olin]

Both BTC and ETH are giants in the cryptocurrency field. They have similarities and differences. Ethereum serves as a platform that uses its own currency to promote contracts and applications. The purpose of Bitcoin is to serve as a global decentralized financial system, a medium for payment transactions, and the ability to become a store of digital value.

[btcltcdigger]

However, if i'm not mistaken, they are working on building assets on top of BTC blockchain now.
Maybe even go as far as smart contracts.

[RussianEnglishTranslation]

Ethereum is programmable money but it can't scale fast enough. Side-chains like FTM and NEAR aurora are good options to scale Ethereum.

[sunsilk]

There is no need for the comparison of two. The descriptions were right and you've forgotten that both are being also used as a store of value.

Using smart contracts for Ethereum, you can make as much projects as developers can. And that's why we see various projects made from its blockchain.

Agree, both are greats project on Crypto space currently, the only thing that needs to be improved for both projects are the transaction time and cost.

The cost lately became cheap.

I've done several transactions for bitcoin and Ethereum and I'm surprised that those transactions didn't do much for the fee. A 2 sat per byte isn't a lot.

While for Ethereum it's 5-10 gas fee.

[dhemasm]

Of course, each is very different, but I would say that Ethereum is far more flexible because of it's dApps. And more devs are into it obviously as they would have to create applications that will work hand in hand with the dApps. And there are competitions already for Ethereum but nevertheless they still on the top of the competition despite many great crypto competing against them. dApps still remains relevant.

Yeah, I agree with you. Ethereum was more flexible with more wider scalability, They have the an solid community with tons of dApps for prototype for different use case, One of them is DeFi that we can see before becoming the new things Beside that NFT and sometimes integrated with games too, It's have a lot potential i suppose since the Smart-Contract was really powerful.

[fullhdpixel]

Many people frequently ask is bitcoin better or is ethereum better.

It's like asking who is better - the inventor or the innovator? I always feel that you cannot compare the successor with the founder/inventor because if the founder didn't existed, there was no place for a successor while if the successor doesn't exist, there is no room for improvement.

I would blindly say that ETH is much better and has more use cases than BTC but that doesn't mean it's better than BTC because they are both trying to solve a problem in different ways.

From an investor's point of view, I still prefer BTC over Ethereum and any altcoin because the face value of BTC is tremendous.

[sunsilk]

There is no need for the comparison of two. The descriptions were right and you've forgotten that both are being also used as a store of value.

Using smart contracts for Ethereum, you can make as much projects as developers can. And that's why we see various projects made from its blockchain.

Agree, both are greats project on Crypto space currently, the only thing that needs to be improved for both projects are the transaction time and cost.

The cost lately became cheap.

I've done several transactions for bitcoin and Ethereum and I'm surprised that those transactions didn't do much for the fee. A 2 sat per byte isn't a lot.

While for Ethereum it's 5-10 gas fee.

Yea its nicer now, but i expect lower gas fee so its can be used for small transaction like coffee shop or grocery. So it can be wide adoption and create a huge cashflow in the future.

For those type of transactions, the most ideal crypto for it is bitcoin. It's cheaper than before and with those coffee shops and other stores, they can accept bitcoin's lightning network.

That's surely are cheap fees for every transaction. There are some altcoins that are also good for it which offers free transactions like Nano. But it won't be stopped to see Ethereum being adopted to be used for those transactions.

[semobo]

There is a huge difference is the supply, for bitcoin its completely fixed from the beginning while ethereum availability is still unlimited which is the reason why ethereum often faces scalability issues.ETH2.0 also going to end this unlimited supply and the mode of verification is going to be changed from PoW to PoS so these two are completely different chains with different utility purposes.

[Davian144]

Yea its nicer now, but i expect lower gas fee so its can be used for small transaction like coffee shop or grocery. So it can be wide adoption and create a huge cashflow in the future.

When it comes to transactions on the Ethereum platform, I think it's pretty cheap now when compared to the fees in the past, but for fees on Bitcoin I myself have rarely used it so I can't give a conclusion now.

[cliber]

Many people frequently ask is bitcoin better or is ethereum better.
Both were created with two different missions.
Bitcoin blockchain created a public and peer-to-peer online payment system: Peer to Peer Electronic Cash.
Ethereum blockchain create distributed computing system: Decentralized Computation. Ethereum allows developers to build and deploy decentralized applications (DApps). Decentralized applications are run from source code running on the blockchain network so these applications are not controlled by any individual or organization.

Overall Ethereum is very easy to use, this application cannot be controlled by anyone, thus allowing people to be an option in the future.

But Bitcoin has a more sophisticated system, even those who first managed to rank 1, its value is very tempting, even though it was created as an online payment system.

Regardless of the advantages and disadvantages of both, choice is the portion that is needed, if this year Bitcoin is more profitable then why do we use Ethereum, and vice versa, if Ethereum is more profitable it is impossible for bitcoin to be an option.

I think it's just a matter of need-matching, so both are the best choices, considering we are more likely to choose what we need at this time rather than just choosing it.

[MoneyJ]

As I will re-state what Michael Saylor view this, Bitcoin is a digital property. It is a great store of value. As to Ethereum is the digital business entity that can exist within a digital property. Bitcoin secures the network where in Ethereum propagates the use of blockchain applications.

[JillianTaft]

Bitcoin is the value itself, and Ethereum is a computing platform that can provide all kinds of applications to run.

[NathanielParker]

Bitcoin and Ethereum are a distributed public blockchain network, but their uses and capabilities are different. Bitcoin is a currency, and Ethereum is a symbol. Ether is for money, and Ethereum is for contracts.

[Samurai trieng]

In my opinion bitcoin is the first digital money made in cryptocurrency with a very limited amount of course having a very high value, while Ethereum is a platform that was developed to become a network for a project, besides that ETH is also a promising investment.

[J1mb0]

Many people frequently ask is bitcoin better or is ethereum better.

There is no exact answer to this question, Bitcoin and ETH were born to serve different purposes.
Bitcoin was born first and is the king of the market
ETH was born with the purpose of being the foundation currency and it is considered by everyone as the queen of the market.

[Qirtov]

I will try to add a little explanation about the basic differences between btc and eth. Firstly Ethereum uses smart contracts, you can use smart contacts for many more things than Bitcoin. second
The Ethereum blockchain was released in 2015. It is 6 years newer and further developed compared to the Bitcoin blockchain (released in 2009). third
The Ethereum blockchain is an advanced version of the Bitcoin blockchain so it can fix some issues and introduce new features like smart contracts. the latter
Ethereum transaction fees are cheaper and faster in seconds than Bitcoin transaction fees and time which is more expensive and takes minutes.

[sunsilk]

For those type of transactions, the most ideal crypto for it is bitcoin. It's cheaper than before and with those coffee shops and other stores, they can accept bitcoin's lightning network.

That's surely are cheap fees for every transaction. There are some altcoins that are also good for it which offers free transactions like Nano. But it won't be stopped to see Ethereum being adopted to be used for those transactions.

Im never use lighting network, it should be something so techy to be used or just a simple click to do? Is it a second-layer network that need to be installed or something?

You don't have to be techy to use it. There are a lot of articles that teaches you how to use it and how fast it is for small transactions.

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/lightning-network.asp

What is Lightning Network and how it works

If that's not enough, search for videos that shows graphical explanation about it.

[hidingyou]

Many people frequently ask is bitcoin better or is ethereum better.
Both were created with two different missions.
Bitcoin blockchain created a public and peer-to-peer online payment system: Peer to Peer Electronic Cash.
Ethereum blockchain create distributed computing system: Decentralized Computation. Ethereum allows developers to build and deploy decentralized applications (DApps). Decentralized applications are run from source code running on the blockchain network so these applications are not controlled by any individual or organization.

The difference between the two, was Bitcoin is the strongest in crypto market. It is the highest value and the King of all coins.
While Ethereum is the second for bitcoin and the greatest of all Altcoins which is transparent also for all tokens in every gas transaction.

[shinratensei_]

but i expect lower gas fee so its can be used for small transaction like coffee shop or grocery. So it can be wide adoption and create a huge cashflow in the future.

It can be lower than the current gas fees when all of updates will be fully implemented but im still waiting whether there will be an adjustment to the block to increase the block size. This will be totally needed to increase the capacity of the transaction and then the ethereum users can receive or send with very small fees.
Retail store and merchant can start to use it as online payment system

[aemma]

Thanks for the short write-up, it is actually filled with the necessary information one can grab as fast as possible. In addition, I would like to add that, Ethereum is the blockchain with the best smart contracts than others, and its DApps are growing more and more with each day that is to show more users and developers are finding it better than others.
Bitcoin on the other hand can be said to be the most decentralized blockchain than Ethereum, and this decentralization is most likely what lead to the huge trust people have for it, such that many people who want to invest in a big way with crypto always starts with Bitcoin, people who are planning for long term also starts with Bitcoin before considering others like Ethereum . However, both are the best cryptocurrencies out there and their growth and adoption can't be compared to others.

[yhiaali3]

The question of who is better is not fair!! Both Bitcoin and Ethereum have some good features that make them superior to other coins and they also have some negatives, for example Bitcoin has the problem of block size and transaction delay in addition to the problem of electrical energy that we need for mining, but despite all that Bitcoin remains the coin The first popularity in the world and has the largest trading volume in the market in addition to being the real engine of all markets.
 Ethereum mainly suffers from network congestion and high fees but also has many other important features and DAPP applications and with the move to Proof of Stake POS will solve the problems of congestion, delays and high fees and is the second currency in the market.
Conclusion I can say that with hundreds of coins appearing that outperform Bitcoin, but Bitcoin will remain the #1 best and most popular coin of all time.

[RbiggerG]

The question of who is better is not fair!! Both Bitcoin and Ethereum have some good features that make them superior to other coins and they also have some negatives, for example Bitcoin has the problem of block size and transaction delay in addition to the problem of electrical energy that we need for mining, but despite all that Bitcoin remains the coin The first popularity in the world and has the largest trading volume in the market in addition to being the real engine of all markets.
 Ethereum mainly suffers from network congestion and high fees but also has many other important features and DAPP applications and with the move to Proof of Stake POS will solve the problems of congestion, delays and high fees and is the second currency in the market.
Conclusion I can say that with hundreds of coins appearing that outperform Bitcoin, but Bitcoin will remain the #1 best and most popular coin of all time.

While we are talking about the energy consumption and block size as a problem for Bitcoin, we shouldn't forget that with these features as I call them Bitcoin obviously stayed on top since its inception and is the most valuable network there is in the crypto world. The majority of investors sees it the same way or otherwise we would see coins with no energy consumption and no block size problems at the top of the list, but that is not the case. We must thoroughly consider what kind of long term implications certain aspects about the protocol really have. Energy consumption sounds negative at first glance, but is it really or is there also good things about it?

[avarnet]

Ethereum and BTC are the same thing: because they are digital currencies that are traded online and stored in different types of cryptocurrency addresses. Both tokens are decentralized, meaning they are not issued or regulated by a central bank or state financial services authority. but they use a distributed ledger technology known as blockchain. However, there are also many important differences between the two most popular cryptocurrencies by market cap

[H1N1]

I don't think btc is the only peer to peer electronic money, ethereum and other altcoins are peer to peer money too.
The basic difference between Bitcoin and Ethereum is the smart contract.
Ethereum blockchain has smart contract that we can use to build many apps such as defi apps.

[adiebitsler]

I don't think btc is the only peer to peer electronic money, ethereum and other altcoins are peer to peer money too.
The basic difference between Bitcoin and Ethereum is the smart contract.
Ethereum blockchain has smart contract that we can use to build many apps such as defi apps.

Now almost all coins already have peer to peer technology, it's just that the number of uses is different, so the one that is used the most will always be more famous and also be better than the others, even though the technology is almost the same.

[lumierre]

One of the main differences between those two mainstream currencies is that Bitcoin has a limit of 21,000,000 coins, as opposed to unlimited Ethereum.
Also I think that bitcoin is more decentralized.
We see that Ethereum is changing all the time during updates. On the other hand, Bitcoin is in stagnation.

[Jolankaa]

I read a perfect description of the difference on Blockster. https://blockster.com/blockdesk/780_bitcoin-vs-ethereum-what-039-s-the-difference

[Shallow]

Many people frequently ask is bitcoin better or is ethereum better.
Both were created with two different missions.
Bitcoin blockchain created a public and peer-to-peer online payment system: Peer to Peer Electronic Cash.
Ethereum blockchain create distributed computing system: Decentralized Computation. Ethereum allows developers to build and deploy decentralized applications (DApps). Decentralized applications are run from source code running on the blockchain network so these applications are not controlled by any individual or organization.

This is really true, and I agree with your post as it states the clear difference between them.
However, in a bid to add, by understanding the difference between these two great coins, people will come  to the understanding that both have different perspective towards this crypto space that is where Bitcoin has made the transaction between two parties to take place without any intermediary, Ethereum has succeeded in making it easy for more projects to have a good foundation for growth; but yet their end goals are the same which is to project the crypto space to the future where people will be able to achieve a lot which traditional systems didn't make possible.
Nevertheless, in my own opinion, even though Bitcoin and Ethereum are solving a great issue and/or limitations in this space and the world at large, Bitcoin is still seen, regarded and addressed as the best cryptocurrency.

[Melignya]

Ethereum has a big commission, this is a major disadvantage for many but we actually c one side, Bitcoin provides more anonymous transactions and Ethereum is more flexible. There is a good article on Blockster called Bitcoin VS. Ethereum: a Brief History which is very detailed, I think many people will be interested in it, I will leave the link https://blockster.com/blockdesk/1217_bitcoin-vs-ethereum-a-brief-history

[Jolankaa]

This article describes absolutely all the differences between Bitcoin and Ethereum. Just read https://blockster.com/blockdesk/780_bitcoin-vs-ethereum-what-039-s-the-difference

[cryptoshade2015852]

Ethereum is a ledger technology that companies are using to build new programs. Both Bitcoin and Ethereum operate on what is called “blockchain” technology, however Ethereum's is far more robust.

[Rahman11]

Ethereum is more versatile than Bitcoin, which is one of its most significant advantages. ... Ethereum also processes transactions faster than Bitcoin, and it's less energy-intensive. While Bitcoin uses a proof-of-work (PoW) mining protocol, Ethereum is moving to a proof-of-stake (PoS) network.

[Godday]

Both have differences in many ways, cryptocurrencies have established bitcoin as the parent of all other coins and bitcoin can also stand alone without any connection to altcoins, bitcoin is also a store of value in crypto while ethereum is very dependent on the price of bitcoin, ethereum and bitcoin has the same value, it's just different levels in several ways, such as its use which is always made on the bounty platform as the main network, for me the difference between the two is very far, bitcoin is the parent coin and ethereum is one of the altcoins that is currently at the top level.