cryptocurrency isn't just about bitcoin [Music] bitcoin and ethereum are two different applications of blockchain technology they are often compared but there are key differences between them bitcoin is a cryptocurrency that lives on a blockchain based network ethereum is a blockchain based network that hosts cryptocurrencies along with other types of digital assets to learn more about how bitcoin and ethereum compare click the link above or in the description below bitcoin and ethereum are both based on blockchain technology blockchain is a distributed database that stores digital information and maintains a secure decentralized record of transactions the difference between the platforms is in how they relate to the blockchain bitcoin was developed in 2009 and capitalized on blockchain concepts that had been developed earlier ethereum was created in 2015 in an attempt to improve on bitcoin ethereum is sometimes called bitcoin 2.0 for this reason the bitcoin platform is used to store and exchange the bitcoin cryptocurrency so it's both a store of value and a medium of exchange ethereum is a general purpose blockchain used to store and exchange many different types of digital assets including cryptocurrency executable code decentralized applications decentralized financial contracts and non-fungible tokens or nfts ethereum has its own native cryptocurrency called ether but it can host a range of different currencies bitcoin exclusively hosts the bitcoin cryptocurrency the ethereum platform works differently from bitcoin in a variety of areas consensus mechanism bitcoin uses a competition-based proof-of-work consensus mechanism to verify transactions ethereum is in process of moving to a consensus mechanism called a proof of stake in which users must take 32 ether tokens to become validators block time the amount of time it takes each block in the chain to be confirmed differs bitcoin blocks take 10 minutes to be confirmed ethereum's takes 12 seconds maximum block size bitcoin has a maximum block number of 21 million bitcoins when that's reached no more bitcoin can be mined ethereum has no overall maximum number of ether but it has an annual maximum of 18 million despite their differences ethereum was designed to complement bitcoin not compete with it what has your experience with ethereum and bitcoin been like did we miss anything let us know in the comments below and be sure to hit that like button [Music] foreign
