The crypto-verse is all abuzz with the latest investment craze. Cryptocurrencies have been among this year’s best-performing assets, and investors are digging in for more of what appears to be a promising new opportunity on Wall Street—the decentralized currency market!
Bitcoin is the oldest and most popular decentralized virtual currency, but it certainly is not alone. It is just one of a group of cryptocurrencies that have been introduced into the market over the past few years. Litecoin, Ripple, Ethereum, Neo, Dash—all these digital currencies are trying to cement their place in online investment portfolios.
In this piece, Bitcoin vs Ethereum are compared. We’ll briefly introduce these two cryptocurrencies, explain the technology behind them and review their market performance over time, both in comparison to each other and other assets.
In 2015, Ethereum had a value of less than $3 and increased to over $1,400 by the following year. After that, Ethereum was valued at more than $3,800. Meanwhile, the price of Bitcoin was around $350 in May 2016 and skyrocketed to above $4,000 in a few months. This year alone, BTC has risen from less than $1,000 to over $2,500 at press time.
Bitcoin has the highest market capitalization with over $40 billion, but this isn’t to say that Ethereum is far behind. Ethereum, launched in 2015 by a former Bitcoin core developer, takes the technology to a whole new level. There are some clear pros and cons to both currencies, so let’s take a look at them side by side.
First off, why are these two cryptocurrencies popular? Some people have heard about Ethereum because they’ve played computer games recently. Most notably, the game called “Etheria” gained some popularity.
A lot of people find cryptocurrencies interesting because they’re decentralized. That means that nobody has control over it and that the system works without interference from authorities or financial institutions. Think about how different that is to your traditional banking systems! The other reason cryptocurrencies have become so popular is that they’re easy to execute transactions with.
Transactions with these two currencies are straightforward, and it’s possible to do exchanges or trades without too many problems. This makes them quite different from traditional money, which brings us to the following question: who accepts Bitcoin or Ethereum as payment? More businesses accept both Bitcoin and Ethereum as forms of payment, although Bitcoin is the more popular one. You can buy pretty much everything with Bitcoin or Ethereum nowadays. Click here for Website.
There are some things that Bitcoin owners like better than Ether holders (and vice versa), and we’ll take a look at them here. For starters, Bitcoin transactions usually confirm faster than Ethereum ones. Furthermore, Bitcoin has a much bigger market cap than Ethereum, which means it has more value in circulation. With the more significant market cap comes lower fees when trading Bitcoin due to its larger volume (more things can be bought).
However, Ethereum has faster transaction times than Bitcoin does. Additionally, Ethereum doesn’t have an upper limit of coins generated like Bitcoin does so Ethereum may have even more value in the future. The blockchains of these two cryptocurrencies are very different, too: Bitcoin uses a blockchain called ‘proof-of-work’, which is a system that requires a lot of computational power to run.
Ethereum has a slightly different approach, and its blockchain runs on a ‘proof-of-stake’ system. That means it’s less taxing on the environment and more sustainable in this regard. So if you’re looking for the cryptocurrency that has the best chance to be even more successful in the future, go with Ethereum. This article must have helped you clarify things!
Winding Up
There you have it. Both Bitcoin and Ethereum are significant cryptocurrencies. Owning either one is beneficial, but the fact that they’re so different means that you should choose what’s best for your needs. This guide went over some of the key differences between these two currencies and some factors to weigh when deciding which to purchase. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading and good luck!