Know your facts: Fundamental differences between Bitcoin and Ethereum

[Phu Juck]

Earlier, I have had a much more positive view about Altcoins but when reviewing opinions of computer scientists, coders and developers, it looks like Ethereum can’t compete against Bitcoin at all.


In an earlier topic I’ve already listed important characteristics why Bitcoin is an advanced and safe coin:


1. Bitcoin is well reviewed

When Bitcoin was invented, it was set up to be a big security. Hacks should be impossible and get prevented by good code. Bitcoin attracted and still has a very large community of really educated developers.
Bitcoin has a very reliable coder community, where flaws will be detected early before implementation and no risks are being taken. Many much smaller coins have a very flawed code review process.
A large and educated coder community reviewing code during testing times is an important advantage for Bitcoin.

And luckily, it saves us from possible hacks, when hackers are prevented from detecting flaws faster because all flaws are removed before implementation.
We have seen so many hacks, where a flawed code was exploited and people lost money, like for Altcoin cross chain bridges recently or when Terra Luna failed.
Still, people are buying coins from unreliable coders like Tron from Justin Sun or even weaker DeFi coins like Acala Stablecoin from Polkadot’s supplier Web 3.
Unfortunately, some people will only learn after a loss.

Some coins are very centralized and have a single point of failure like Solana, when it was down several times or devs have much power like in Binance Coin or Tron.
And DeFi coins can easily print some more coins / tokens into existence.
Bitcoin is having a big advantage here.



2. Bitcoin has PoW

It is big controversy for a long time, if a coin makes PoW or PoS, like it was for Ethereum [ETH]. Not for Bitcoin because Bitcoin developers have decided PoW is best because of security. From what Experts have said so far, PoW is very hard or almost impossible to compromise instead of PoS, where more attack vectors can be found. Like Corona, we should trust mayority of experts who have education and experience in an issue. Satoshi implemented PoW not PoS because Satoshi knew. He was very experienced and called it right.
PoS can be abused by rich stakers and makes a project centralized in many ways like premined coins and devs can create much influence by staking a large amount of PoS coins. PoW is not having such issues.




3. Security is Bitcoin’s priority

As for a safe cryptocurrency, security standards are very important. First point, we need security standards and Satoshi implemented it right himself, when he developed Bitcoin. Early Bitcoin developers added more security standards. Second point is after some time, to NOT remove such security standards. First point and especially second point are relevant to many Altcoins, which is a big issue for Altcoins.
Many Altcoins don’t offer anymore to create private and public keys to prove ownership of funds and access it. It is very concerning and seems mind blowing to many experienced coders.
For example, when creating a Solana wallet or similar new Altcoins. Altcoin developers are not focussing on security.
Or even MEW is bitching around more and more every time going away by implementing insecure patches. We need to have our private key offline.
Many Altcoins are leaving people vulnerable which is very concerning.
Bitcoin is better like Electrum for example. Its design is not so nice but Electrum is good tech and recommended by many experts.

Bitcoin is still having very high security standards today because of Bitcoin does not want to build a hype coin, Bitcoin wants to build a safe coin.
It is our duty to select a safe coin instead of an unsafe hype coin.




But now, a direct comparison to Ethereum should be drawn because it’s also always an opportunity when someone has bought Ethereum (or a different Altcoin) and he wants to have arguments for or against each coin in direct comparison.
In such cases, it is all about an accurate research and argument and also for education for us to really know a fact about fundamental differences between Bitcoin and Ethereum to get a direct comparison.
Maybe experienced members can elaborate a list of valid arguments, especially for such points, when comparing Bitcoin’s and Ethereum’s fundamentals:
- developers of Ethereum have too much power
- nodes and miners in Bitcoin vs. nodes and miners in Ethereum
- Ethereum code changes can be done much easier compared to Bitcoin
- Ethereum history vs. Bitcoin history (which coin is more stablished)
 + more points of importance


When someone is asking me or I need to explain and compare fundamental differences between Bitcoin and Ethereum, I would be happy to give a good explanation, why Ethereum can’t compete against Bitcoin.
I’ll be happy to see your answers, read and review it.  

[ABCbits]

it looks like Ethereum can’t compete against Bitcoin at all.

First of all, Ethereum have different goal compared with Bitcoin, primarily due to smart contract and token feature.

PoS can be abused by rich stakers and makes a project centralized in many ways like premined coins and devs can create much influence by staking a large amount of PoS coins. PoW is not having such issues.

It also could be abused by centralized exchange. I remember when TRON foundation with few CEX perform hostile takeover on Steem blockchain.

Many Altcoins don’t offer anymore to create private and public keys to prove ownership of funds and access it. It is very concerning and seems mind blowing to many experienced coders.
For example, when creating a Solana wallet or similar new Altcoins. Altcoin developers are not focussing on security.
Or even MEW is bitching around more and more every time going away by implementing insecure patches. We need to have our private key offline.
Many Altcoins are leaving people vulnerable which is very concerning.
Bitcoin is better like Electrum for example. Its design is not so nice but Electrum is good tech and recommended by many experts.

I somewhat agree with this part. In addition, it's not easy to find altcoin wallet which are open-source and let user have access private keys.

[bitmover]

it looks like Ethereum can’t compete against Bitcoin at all.

First of all, Ethereum have different goal compared with Bitcoin, primarily due to smart contract and token feature.

I think the best definition of ethereum is the "World computer"
https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/mastering-ethereum/9781491971932/ch01.html

From a more practical perspective, Ethereum is an open source, globally decentralized computing infrastructure that executes programs called smart contracts. It uses a blockchain to synchronize and store the system’s state changes, along with a cryptocurrency called ether to meter and constrain execution resource costs.

The Ethereum platform enables developers to build powerful decentralized applications with built-in economic functions. While providing high availability, auditability, transparency, and neutrality, it also reduces or eliminates censorship and reduces certain counterparty risks.

...

Unlike Bitcoin, which has a very limited scripting language, Ethereum is designed to be a general-purpose programmable blockchain that runs a virtual machine capable of executing code of arbitrary and unbounded complexity. Where Bitcoin’s Script language is, intentionally, constrained to simple true/false evaluation of spending conditions, Ethereum’s language is Turing complete, meaning that Ethereum can straightforwardly function as a general-purpose computer.

[dkbit98]

Earlier, I have had a much more positive view about Altcoins but when reviewing opinions of computer scientists, coders and developers, it looks like Ethereum can’t compete against Bitcoin at all.

It's important to say that Ethereum had rollback of coins, and they made so many changes that makes it inferior to bitcoin in many ways.
Another thing is fair distribution of coins for Bitcoin, there was no presale of coins like in the case with ethereum.
Security is better for bitcoin and there is no founder that can be arrested and blackmailed.

[bitmover]

Security is better for bitcoin and there is no founder that can be arrested and blackmailed.

I agree. This is a problem of Vitalik's blockchain.

He centralizes too much power over the network... he can be coerced by governments to make changes in the protocol

[dkbit98]

He centralizes too much power over the network... he can be coerced by governments to make changes in the protocol

Or maybe he was already coerced by some government. 
I can't believe that nobody approached him when we know how many developers and individuals from Bitcoin ecosystem was contacted by government agencies.
Recently I heard short clip from telegram owner who claims they also tried to do this with his developers.