Bitcoin and Ethereum are among the most popular cryptocurrencies on the market. Both of them have their pros and cons, so let's have a look at their main differences.
Ethereum is a decentralized platform running smart contracts. Ethereum is not just a currency but also a platform for many other cryptocurrencies, such as ERC20 tokens. It is also used for developing distributed apps (DApps) and other smart contracts (i.e., self-executing contracts).
Bitcoin is a digital currency based on blockchain technology which enables a peer-to-peer payment system and is free from any form of regulation or centralized authority. The bitcoin network is made up of thousands of computers worldwide running specialized software; these computers are called miners because they are rewarded with newly created bitcoins for each block they successfully create through mining.
Programming language
The main difference between Ethereum and Bitcoin is the programming language. Ethereum uses Solidity, a JavaScript-like programming language. Bitcoin uses C++. Ethereum is written in a Turing complete language (similar to C++ or Go), allowing more flexibility than Bitcoin.
Solidity is a programming language that creates smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain. It is based on JavaScript, so it is easy to learn and use. Ethereum has many more developers working on it than Bitcoin (which may be related to their choice of programming language).
C++ is a more complex language than Solidity and requires more time to master. It also requires more resources in terms of processing power and memory usage than Solidity does.
Transaction speed
One of the main differences between bitcoin and Ethereum is transaction speed. When you send money from one wallet to another using bitcoin, it takes about 10 minutes for that transaction to be confirmed by miners on its blockchain network. A confirmation means that your transaction has been recorded on its blockchain network and confirmed by miners assigned to mine transactions into blocks.
In contrast, when you send money from one wallet to another using Ethereum, it will take only 15 seconds for that transaction to be confirmed by miners on its blockchain network. This means Ethereum offers faster transactions than bitcoin because there are more confirmations per second than with bitcoin's slower network speed.
Total supply
Bitcoin has a fixed supply of 21 million bitcoins, while Ethereum has an unlimited supply of ethers that will be released over time with a total cap of approximately 100 million ETHs.
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