Buz Investors Best Digital Currencies Digital currencies have proved lucrative for tech-wise traders, but where should you put your money in 2017: Ethereum or Bitcoin? Both the Ethereum value and the Bitcoin value skyrocketed in recent years. In order to figure out which of them is headed for a repeat performance, we need to take a closer look at what each cryptocurrency brings to the table.
Bitcoin is obviously the biggest player in town. It has become the public face of digital money, which gives it a leg up over Ethereum. The increased exposure resulted in Bitcoin’s massive market cap, its ascendancy to safe haven status, and its vast library of third party apps.
ETHEREUM VS BITCOIN
- Blockchainis a type, not a thing. Don’t be confused by people saying things like, “Bitcoin payments are made over the blockchain.” Such statements are casual references to the double-ledger system that was pioneered with Bitcoin. There are dozens of different blockchain networks right now, but they all model themselves after the blockchain system that began with Bitcon. (Double-ledger refers to the fact that every transaction is recorded simultaneously on the thousands of computers that power the blockchain, making it open and transparent.)
- Bitcoinwas the first blockchain-based digital currency. It was groundbreaking for that reason, but also for envisioning a new financial order. The code was designed to unlock a finite amount of Bitcoin units at a predictable rate. In other words, Bitcoin promised to preserve the purchasing power of its digital currency by constraining supply.
- Ethereumis the most serious threat to Bitcoin. Not only has this currency jumped 688.89% during the last two years, but it’s also expanded the capability of blockchain tech. It has introduced new ideas like smart contracts and the Decentralized Autonomous Organization. But more on that later.
BITCOIN HISTORY & BITCOIN PREDICTION 2017
Late in 2008, a mysterious paper was posted online under the name Satoshi Nakamoto. No one quite knew who this person was, where he lived, or what his credentials were. But he laid out a blueprint for what would become the Bitcoin platform we know and use today. (Source: “The Rise and Fall of Bitcoin,” Wired, November 23, 2011.)
The paper was titled “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System.” Two months after it was first published, Nakamoto released the first version of the Bitcoin platform that allowed for users to mine a total of 21 million bitcoins by the year 2040. The first block of Bitcoin, known as the “Genesis Block,” was mined. Then the first transaction took place. The wheels were turning.
What happened over the next few years was remarkable. Ambitious entrepreneurs joined the Bitcoin community and started mining, launching Bitcoin exchanges, and adding vendors to the platform. They had two goals in mind:
ETHEREUM FEATURES & ETHEREUM FORECAST 2017
The Ethereum Project came into existence much after Bitcoin. At first, a lot of people wrote it off as “just another Bitcoin imitator,” but then they realized this cryptocurrency has some truly unique features. These features-smart contracts and the Decentralized Autonomous Organization-could help Ethereum attract more users and developers, thus causing its price to explode.
But before we slap a price target on Ethereum, you should probably understand what makes these features so special.
In the waning months of 2013, a young programmer named Vitalik Buterin wrote a white paper on blockchain technology. He believed that the technology could be used for more than just payments; in fact, he argued that Bitcoin’s core technology has countless applications in other fields. It shouldn’t be just a payments platform.
