A Comparison: Ethereum vs Bitcoin

Overview

Bitcoin is a form of digital currency that is becoming increasingly popular as a payment method. What makes it a preferred method of payment is that it allows direct payments between two individuals without a middleman such as a bank, credit card company or PayPal.

Bitcoin payments are also an attractive alternative for international transfers. Without an intermediary, the costs involved in sending money are reduced and payments can be instant.

Recently, a number of cryptocurrencies as well as platforms have entered the market and are competing with Bitcoin. One such platform is Ethereum – a crowd-funded platform which facilitated peer-to-peer contracts that encourages decentralised mining by individuals.

In the quest to gain a better understanding of Ethereum vs Bitcoin, it may be helpful to know the difference.

What is Ethereum?

Building on the infrastructure that Bitcoin helped create, Ethereum and Ether are supported by many existing exchanges.

Ethereum is a software project that was initially developed in early 2014 by a Swiss company. It is an open-source, public blockchain-based computing platform featuring smart contract functionality. Its applications run exactly as programmed without any possibility of downtime, censorship, fraud or third party interference. The Ethereum network is kept running by computers all over the world.

Launched in 2015, Ethereum is a platform that also functions as a programming language. It enables Smart Contracts to be built and run without any downtime, fraud, control or interference from a third party.

The main difference is that Ethereum allows both permissioned and permissionless transactions to take place on the platform. As a result, it has become more popular than Bitcoin for corporate users.

With Etheruem, given enough computing power and enough time, anything can be calculated.

Compared to Bitcoin, it also allows for faster transaction times. Transactions can be confirmed in seconds using this platform.

Ethereum vs Bitcoin:

Bitcoin is a form of cryptocurrency that has a current market value of $20 billion. It also offers the promise of lower transaction fees than traditional online payment mechanisms and is operated by a decentralised authority.

It was essentially created as an alternative to regular money.

There are no physical bitcoins – only balances associated with public and private keys.

Bitcoin is powered by Blockchain technology, while transaction time is confirmed within minutes.