Which One is Better - Ethereum vs Bitcoin?

Of the more than 1,600 available cryptocurrencies on the market, both Bitcoin and Ethereum are in the top three. In fact, Ethereum may overtake Bitcoin, according to Yahoo Finance, which cites the platform’s custom contracts as a more versatile alternative to Bitcoin. But how exactly does Ethereum stack up against Bitcoin in terms of features, uses, and more? Simplilearn’s Bitcoin vs. Ethereum tutorial video covers the similarities and differences between these two cryptocurrencies, and here we’ll recap what’s included in the video.

In 1999, Nobel Prize winner in economics Milton Friedman believed the Internet was going to be one of the major forces in reducing the role of government. He also thought that the one thing missing was reliable electronic cash, and just as he predicted, in 2009 the cryptocurrency Bitcoin was born.

What is Cryptocurrency?

Cryptocurrency works in a very similar way to “normal” currency (the dollar, Euro, Pound, yen, rupee, and so on). The major difference between cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies is that cryptocurrencies are decentralized, meaning that cryptocurrencies don’t have a central authority, such as a bank or government, controlling them.

But most importantly, cryptocurrencies use blockchain, which is a set of records that are placed into a container known as a block. These transactions are kept public and in chronological order.

What is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin, which was released in 2009 by an individual or group of individuals known as Satoshi Nakamoto, is a cryptocurrency that allows people to send and receive money around the world. As mentioned, the payments are secured using cryptography. The most essential point about Bitcoin is that it helps keep the identity of the people sending and receiving money anonymously.

We all know that when we conduct a transaction through a bank, some amount of money or service charge is levied. However, with Bitcoin, this charge is very low, making it a more attractive alternative to conventional electronic transactions.

What is Ethereum?

Ethereum, which was created in 2015 by Vitalik Buterin, is a cryptocurrency that provides ether tokens. This is equivalent to the bitcoins in the Bitcoin network. Ether is used to build and deploy decentralized applications whose back-end code is placed in a distributed peer-to-peer network.

This is different from a regular application, for which the back-end code is placed in a centralized server. Ether is also used to pay for services, like the computational power that is required before a block can be added to the blockchain and to pay transaction fees.

Ether works very similarly to Bitcoin and can be used for peer-to-peer payments. Also, it can be used to create smart contracts. Smart contracts work in such a way that when a specific set of predefined rules is satisfied, a given output takes place.

Bitcoin vs. Ethereum

The Bitcoin vs. Ethereum argument has been garnering more attention these days. Bitcoin has become a very popular and well-known cryptocurrency around the world. It also has the highest market cap among all the cryptocurrencies available right now. In a way, it’s the current world champion when it comes to cryptocurrencies. On the other side, however, is Ethereum.

Ethereum did not have the revolutionary effect that Bitcoin did, but its creator learned from Bitcoin and produced more functionalities based on the concepts of Bitcoin. It is the second-most-valuable cryptocurrency on the market right now.

Bitcoin or Ethereum: Which one is Better?

The answer to the question of which cryptocurrency is better in the choice between Bitcoin vs. Ethereum depends entirely on your requirements.

While Bitcoin works better as a peer-to-peer transaction system, Ethereum works well when you need to create and build distributed applications and smart contracts. The choice is entirely up to you to choose a winner between Bitcoin vs. Ethereum.

Conclusion

If you’d like to learn more about cryptocurrency and blockchain technology—and perhaps earn an increase in salary or land a more exciting job—check out Simplilearn’s Blockchain Basics course or go even further and take your career to the next level with the Blockchain Certification training designed in collaboration with IIT Kanpur. There has never been a better time to learn about blockchain and cryptocurrency from experts on the cutting edge!