Bitcoin is the most popular cryptocurrency in use today, but that may not last forever. Ethereum has its own advantages over Bitcoin and could easily become the more popular currency.
Those who are already familiar with cryptocurrencies will know that Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency ever created back in 2009. It was introduced as “a new electronic cash system” that enabled peer-to-peer transactions. But, not being the first coin does not lower the chance of Ethereum taking its place on top.
The main goals behind cryptocurrencies were to create a decentralized currency network and improve the peer-to-peer payment system for people all over the world. Since then, there have been numerous other cryptocurrencies that have launched on this premise of creating a decentralized online trading platform.
But What Is Ethereum Actually?
Ethereum is an open-source blockchain platform that was introduced in 2015. The cryptocurrency used on this network is called Ether, but it’s more commonly known as ETH. It has many of the same features as Bitcoin – decentralization for example.
Other key differences include Ethereum transactions contain executable code, while Bitcoin network transactions are generally only for keeping notes. Those are just one example of differences between ETH and BTC.
How Can Ethereum Surpass Bitcoin?
It has been predicted that Ethereum will continue to grow side by side with Bitcoin. This means that it’s possible to see Ether become one of the most traded currencies worldwide.
Some popular theories are the number of other industries considering Ethereum as their payment option. For example, the betting industry starts to massively promote Ethereum sports betting which is considered as an upcoming trend within this industry. With its introduction to the sports betting industry, it helps to bring an even deeper market penetration for online sports betting and giving bettors more options for payment.
Ethereum has already worked closely with some very successful companies, which should give it a boost in terms of popularity. Companies like Microsoft have partnered with Ethereum to create smart contracts, which are pieces of code that can be used on an agreement between two parties, thus eliminating the need for paper contracts.
Apart from some theory, let’s see what the actual reasons that can boost Ethereum value surpassing Bitcoin:
– Faster Processing Speeds – Ethereum transactions on average takes about 10 to 15 seconds, which is significantly faster than Bitcoin which can take up to 10 minutes on some instances.To give you a complete picture, Ethereum transaction will show in about five minutes, while it takes Bitcoin about 40 minutes to complete a transaction.
– More Programmable – With Ethereum, developers have more options on what they can program inside of its blockchain. This is different from Bitcoin where it is limited to just cryptocurrency transactions. For example, You could allow people to rent cars without ever having to go through a middle man or business entity if you wrote Ethereum’s blockchain to allow this.
– Less Fraud – One of the key properties of Ethereum is that it is NOT anonymous like Bitcoin. This makes scams and fraud far less likely because you can trace transactions back to their source, unlike with Bitcoin where they are secret thanks to the ledger only showing the receiving address of each transaction (anonymously).
Final Say
Ethereum has the potential of becoming more popular than Bitcoin as its popularity is growing rapidly. As Ethereum becomes more ubiquitous, it will become easier for developers to create decentralized apps that are powered by smart contracts. The use cases seem to always add more and more everyday with now signs of slowing down.
