Ethereum vs Bitcoin: simplified

Posted on 26th January 2018

Fintech

Written by Fintan Galvin, Founder & CEO of Invotra

Continuing from my previous blog “blockchain simplified” I wanted to introduce some key concepts and give people a basic understanding from which they can continue to develop an understanding of the blockchain ecosystem.

First both run on blockchain technology, however differ in implementation and purpose.

Think of Bitcoin using one database and ethereum using a different one.

Both have all the features inherent in Blockchains and both are widely supported around the world, although the organisations running them are fundamentally different.

Overview Diagram

Table of key differences between Bitcoin and Ethereum

Differences	Bitcoin	Ethereum
Purpose	Cryptocurrency (BTC)	General purpose platform including Cryptocurrency (ETH)
Speed of transaction	Around 10 mins	Around 15 seconds
Development environment	Limited function set	Rich functionality support complex business logic (Turing complete)
Mining rewards	Smaller rewards as time goes on	Fixed rewards
Perfect for:	Digital Currency	Smart contracts including Digital currency payments
Transaction model	Block based, all compete evenly	Dependant on Bandwidth, storage and processing needed (GAS)
For the Geeks
Computational puzzle (Proof of work)	SHA 256	Ethhash
Mining system	Asics / FPGA	GPU

I believe that blockchain will have an Internet level impact on the world possibly even greater over the next 10-15 years. I know as a Digital workplace provider we are taking this extremely seriously and striving to lead in this area of Digital workplace evolution.

Hopefully this helps you to start to develop your understanding of what is an initially confusing and complicated space that will impact us all.