What’s the difference between Bitcoin and Ethereum?

Cryptocurrency, blockchain, Bitcoin, and Ethereum. No doubt you have heard these words recently, but what do they mean? Does digital currency have any real value like cold hard cash? In 2008, the global market had a major financial crisis, which saw consumers changing how they control their money.

The idea of cryptocurrency was introduced as a way for people to manage their finances without relying on banks or investment companies that charge high fees. Here are the main differences between the two cryptocurrencies.

Supply

Bitcoin has gained such a popular following since its creation in 2009 that it is suggested to be the next major form of money to be accepted on a global scale. One of the first major differences between Bitcoin and Ethereum is that Bitcoin has been maxed out at 21 million units that can be mined, bought, and sold.

Ethereum has not been capped at any maximum quantity, so the mining opportunities are still limitless. By the end of 2017, 96 million ether units had been created and were circulating in the market.

To get started with Ethereum trading, you will need access to a virtual wallet and an account with a cryptocurrency managing application. Next, start watching the market trends.

Technology

Both Bitcoin and Ethereum work on the same blockchain technology, however, Bitcoin is a currency that can be invested. Ethereum is associated with ledger technology that records transactions called a “hash”. This digital ledger technology can be used to create new programs and decentralized applications that can manage large amounts of transactional data. Ethereum is therefore perfect for innovation and can be applied to a variety of businesses and industries.

Instead of just managing your money with Bitcoin, Ethereum can be used to build onto other more complex applications. There are many more opportunities with Ethereum because it has a built-in programming language that can work with other applications.

Time and Fees

To mine cryptocurrency, one has to wait for the block to be added to the blockchain, the computational puzzle to be solved and then verified. Ethereum only takes an average of 12-15 seconds per transaction, whereas Bitcoin can take 10 minutes. The fees per transaction are not mandatory with Bitcoin and more can be paid to provide a better result of the mining process. Ethereum, on the other hand, requires that a small amount of ether is loaded before a transaction can be successful.

The market value of each cryptocurrency also varies quite a bit. Where Bitcoin is capped at 21 million, and only 17 million is currently made, Ethereum already has more than 100 million ethers. The value of Bitcoin in the market is $110 billion, but Ethereum has only reached the $28 billion mark recently. This is simply because Bitcoin is more popular and has been around longer than Ethereum.

This decentralised alternative to the traditional currencies provides people with plenty of opportunities to invest their money wisely. Currently, there are over 4000 cryptocurrencies that you can work with, but Bitcoin and Ethereum are the most popular.

Article by Born Realist