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Bitcoin versus Ethereum - win win or no game

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@julianhorack
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When it comes to which is the best cryptocurrency ever, we can’t really make an obvious choice because they are actually quite different, so it is impossible to equate apples with oranges. Bitcoin is obviously the original one, the first mover and the legacy blockchain cryptocurrency. It will always have that to its credit and will likely remain the top crypto in trade volume as well as the one that most people hear bout initially. It far outpaces all the others by daily traded volume. But to say it is better or the best may be true in one sense but not in all. Ethereum, the second most popular crypto by daily traded volume and market cap, also has a lot going for it, and in places has more to offer than even Bitcoin.

Bitcoin is the next level of banking technology but Ethereum is the next level of the internet. They serve different purposes. Bitcoin works as a blockchain just as it is, while Ethereum is a platform upon which one can build other technological services. These second layer solutions to the worlds problems are now being built on Ethereum more than on the bitcoin blockchain. Bitcoin has never been hacked or stopped in its 11 year history, however it may be slower or less secure than say some of the other altcoins or “software” solutions now being bult by code on Ethereum. Dapps and second layer scaling solutions are more readily built on Ethereum today.

Bitcoin and Ethereum both have transaction fees and one is sometimes cheaper to transact on than the other as their fees vary according to volume of use on the day among other things. Ethereum is certainly faster, taking seconds to verify while bitcoin takes minutes. Also Ethereum is more of platform for executable code to be written on it or smart contracts, while bitcoin is only a data base for recording basic transactions.

In a fundamental sense both are blockchain technology but they were designed for different purposes. Bitcoin is certainly an alternative form of money, so is a medium of exchange and store of value, While Ethereum was designed to be a platform for programmable smart contracts and Dapps, as well as being a form of currency. However the Ethereum currency is more for facilitating and monetizing the smart contracts and Dapps running on the platform itself.

Both of them go to show that blockchain technology itself can be used for multiple purposes. Yes Ethereum was never trying to compete with bitcoin but rather facilitate it. Nevertheless, traders pumped ETH to such a degree that it rose to be a competitor at second place. However, the gap between daily traded volume between the two is huge, with bitcoin around ten times more popular, so one can’t really call ETH a competitor. That being said, when ETH 2.0 comes out and they also move from PoW Proof of Work (like bitcoin) to Proof of Stake PoS, the price may climb and the ETH/BTC value may climb with it to previous highs last seen in January 2018. Back then ETH was worth 0.147 bitcoin at its height. Today it is worth 0.025 bitcoin, but it may be about to pump once more.
So in making an investment choice you will win with both, though it’s impossible to say which will bring higher returns, From a fundamentals or technical point of view they will both be leading innovators in their fields for generations to come and remain legacy platforms. Therefore you can’t go wrong in dealing with either of them, and so they both win out in my comparison today and I hope the information facilitates a better understanding for you.

(image pixabay)