What Makes Ethereum Better than Bitcoin

Bitcoin and Ethereum are among the top cryptocurrencies in the market today. What makes these two very remarkable is the fact that out of more than 1,600 cryptocurrencies, these two remain firmly rooted within the top ranks. 

News has it that Ethereum could have the potential to overtake Bitcoin sooner or later. This brings us to the question as to why Ethereum has the potential to outdo Bitcoin and what makes Ethereum better than Bitcoin. Keep reading to find out. 

Although Bitcoin is considered the world champion in the field of cryptocurrencies, there is no doubt that Ethereum is already standing very close to Bitcoin’s spot. Bitcoin’s market cap remains to be the highest in the cryptocurrency world today. 

Although Ethereum did not have a revolutionary impact much as Bitcoin did, the first has far more capabilities and outstanding features than the latter.  What makes Ethereum better than Bitcoin? Here is a rundown of their differences:

Duration and Fees for  Transaction Verification

The cryptocurrency Ethereum is capable of verifying transactions within 10 seconds, while Bitcoin can do it in ten minutes. Although the process would largely depend on statistical variation and for Ethereum, it will usually depend on how much “gas reward” will be added. 

In terms of fees, transaction fees for Bitcoin often come on an optional basis, and this is something that is no longer new to people who trade via the Bitcoin Era app. This would mean you can pay the miner a certain amount as a fee so that he’ll give your transaction special attention. But then the entire transaction will still proceed with or without you paying a fee to the miner. 

But with Ethereum, you have to pay a specified amount of Ether so that your transaction will be successfully verified and processed. Any amount of Ether that you pay for such a transaction will then be converted into “gas” that serves to fuel the computation to ensure that your transaction will be recorded into the blockchain. 

Ethereum’s minor advantage over Bitcoin is the use of “gas”, which serves as the cost for computational power. The amount set for a gas fee will be determined by miners themselves. The price of the value of a cryptocurrency is separate from its computational costs. On the other hand, Bitcoin’s price will depend solely on the whims of its fluctuating price. 

In other words, these differences are considered to be very trivial, but the fact remains that gas fees used in Ethereum transactions are way more flexible and can be considered fairer. 

If we are to compare cryptocurrency to traditional credit card companies, the decentralisation of cryptocurrencies must be viewed not just as a threat to the existence of traditional currencies but also as new opportunities for investing and trading. 

Smart Contracts

Ethereum has a key feature that makes it very outstanding in comparison to other types of cryptocurrencies existing in the market these days. This feature is called smart contracts. But how do smart contracts function?

Smart contracts work much like two individuals signing a traditional contract together, whose agreements are conditional on a specified future event. If the specified event really takes place, then the transaction will also take place. But, if the specified event will not happen, then there will be no transactions that are going to take place as well. 

In a smart contract, the two agreeing parties will specify the exact details of this smart contract which will also be considered as final when two parties agree that they are satisfied. Once they find themselves fully prepared to finally seal the contract, they will broadcast the said agreement to the cryptocurrency community so that they will also have witnesses. Once the event specified in the contract takes place, the funds will automatically be transferred to the other party. 

These smart contracts make it possible for an individual to purchase real estate properties share money, and anything that has value. Ethereum is designed to have a platform for building smart contracts while also providing services for peer-to-peer transactions. 

What makes Ethereum’s Smart Contract Beneficial?

Even if the smart contracts would take a long period of time before they are fully realised, the efficiency of the process is something that cannot be considered trivial. In a smart contract, there will be no lawyers who will ask for more money to pay for transaction fees or for his professional fee. The use of the crypto code in smart contracts enables the automation of the entire smart contract processing. This is tantamount to large sums of money saved!

Bitcoin and Ethereum’s Developer Community

The developer community for Bitcoin consists of tech enthusiasts working for Bitcoin voluntarily with the aim of being able to contribute to its open-source repository. The same is also true with Ethereum. There are also plenty of open source developers who do the task of maintaining the Ethereum technology, but they are not the only ones who do it. 

In fact, Ethereum is also a private group of developers who are tasked to write blockchain apps that will leverage the development of the Ethereum platform. These developers are contributing their knowledge and skills to the digital app store with the hope of being able to have the opportunity to earn revenue. 

One great thing about Ethereum that makes it better than Bitcoin is that Ethereum has been designed to have more features right from the beginning of its creation. But such a fact has not discouraged individuals who have been trading thru Bitcoin Up. Bitcoin, as the first cryptocurrency to ever exist in the world, is not only deserving to be treated like King in the crypto world. 

But, being the first would also mean being prone to development mistakes and design imperfections. It would be almost impossible for Bitcoin to create smart contracts since they’ve already come a long way to earning the spot that they have right now. It is likely that they would have to find themselves starting all over again from the beginning if they insist on creating smart contracts, too. 

But in the case of Ethereum, its platform has been designed to become capable of several features, including smart contracts and dApps. This is because the programming language in which Ethereum was created is enormously extensible. 

A word of caution for newbie cryptocurrency investors – whether you choose to invest in Bitcoin or in Ethereum, invest only the amount that you are willing to literally let go. No matter how great the features of a cryptocurrency, it does not make it immune to fluctuations and volatility in value, which are part of the world of investing.