Most of the investors, as well as the mainstream public, has just heard about Bitcoins when it comes to cryptocurrencies. However, there is another cryptocurrency which is not only equally attractive but is also rising significantly as well. It is known as Ethereum. According to some of the experts, it would actually overtake Bitcoin in market Value by next year.
What exactly is Ethereum?
Ethereum is a platform which is based on the blockchain technology. The platform allows the execution of smart contracts and the trading of the token Ether without the involvement of any kind of 3rd party. Also, the platform allows the developers to make use of the processing power on the platform by deploying various software as well as applications. Owing to the increasing use of the platform by the developers as well as service providers, it is projected to overtake Bitcoin in value by next year.
What is the difference between Ethereum and Bitcoin?
Even though the similarities between Bitcoin and Ethereum are plenty but there are quite a few differences as well. Some of the differences include:
• Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency. On the other hand, Ethereum is actually a platform which allows the execution of smart contracts as well as the exchange of currency.
• The security protocols of both the cryptocurrencies are different. Ethereum works on proof of stake system whereas Bitcoin works on proof of work system.
• Bitcoin currently only allows public transactions. On the other hand, Ethereum allows private transaction that is the permissioned transactions as well as the permissionless transactions which are the public ones.
• The block time for Ethereum is just 12 seconds as compared to 10 minutes of Bitcoin.
What are the advantages of Ethereum?
The main advantage of Ethereum is that it is much more than just a cryptocurrency. It is actually a platform designed to do execute smart contracts as well as the exchange of currency.
History:
The 1st white paper on Ethereum was launched in 2013 which had detailed perspective on the coding of the cryptocurrency. It was only in 2014 that it was launched by Vitalik Buterin and the other cofounders. The 1st release of the platform Ethereum was launched in 2015.
Since then, Ethereum has been going pretty strong and currently has a market cap of around $ 100 billion. It also broke off into 2 different cryptocurrencies in 2016 which are Ethereum as well as Ethereum classic.
In 2017, the cryptocurrency grew by over 13,000%. This is what attracted many investors to the cryptocurrency.
Thus, instead of thinking that Bitcoin is the only cryptocurrency which you need to look into, it is high time that you start paying attention to Ethereum as well.
David is passionate about learning cryptography, tech and the Internet. He has years of experience working at international investment projects. Growing interested in Blockchain and cryptocurrencies in late 2015, he joined Smartereum as an editor.
