In the past weeks we have witnessed a lot of tension between these 2 communities. Arguments about which one is "better" flood the gates of the world wide web. In this article I'm going to delve into the world of cryptocurrency and extract the core principles behind these two cryptographic monsters. I'm going to outline the pro's and con's of each and shine a spotlight on the driving force behind the organizations that are pushing these technologies forward. 

The Fight Begins:

Bitcoin. The Grandfather of Decentralization

 Any way you cut the cake you have to stand in awe of papa bitcoin. Bitcoin is like the grand-master sage that demands respect from its peers. It was born in the darkness of the 2008 financial crisis and has been lurking about in the shadows of the virtual underworld, providing society with an alternative to the parasitic economic systems that plague nations around the world. 

The beauty of bitcoin lies in a mixture of it's rarity and it's underlying technology called the blockchain. It forces those who wish to understand it to question the fundamentals of the economic system...

Bitcoin's main innovations

1. Bitcoin is based on a system of mathematical truths. These truths are transparent and view-able to anybody in the bitcoin whitepaper. 

2. Unlike the current economic system, the number of bitcoins that will be in circulation has been etched in stone at 21 million. This fact gives it the same property that makes gold valuable, rarity.

3. Bitcoin has created a way to enable truly peer to peer transactions without the need for a middleman (bank). 

4. It has made possible the instant (well, almost instant, 10ish minutes) transfer of wealth to anybody, anywhere, for any reason.

5. It merged the idea of blockchain technology with the world of currency. Which turned out to be an incredible idea.

A few sucky things

- It is a dauntingly time-consuming task to create a program using the bitcoin protocol. Which makes it a little impractical to scale the project.

- Transaction times are not the quickest 

- Large mining operations have created a semi-monopoly on the ownership of bitcoins

 Now, if that list of innovations didn't make your pants a little tighter... I honestly don't know what will. Bitcoin is a truly revolutionary worldwide currency that can be used for peer to peer transactions and has intrinsic value due to it being a rare commodity. Bitcoin provided the framework for Ethereum to flourish... Speaking of Ethereum, let me introduce our next contestant...

Ethereum. The Revolutionary Young Buck  

Ethereum burst into the scene, carrying with it an ecosystem of tools to construct a decentralized world, based on an "upgraded" version of bitcoin's underlying technology. Ethereum's genius lies in it's grandiose infrastructure that was curated by a compelling group of superhumans. Built with the intention of becoming the framework for a truly decentralized society, Ethereum's vision is compelling to say the least. Flocks of programmers and entrepreneurs have rushed to the scene to take advantage of Ethereum's simple to use but incredibly advanced construction tools. 

Ethereum's genius

1. Like bitcoin, Ethereum is based on blockchain technology and has a built in cryptocurrency. Unlike bitcoin, Ethereum combines currency with infrastructural tools created to ease the design of decentralized applications and takes mass scaling into account.The underlying beauty behind Ethereum is it's ability to provide the tools to create any sort of decentralized service that you can possibly wish into existence.

2. Ethereum is leaning towards a 12-60 second transaction time.

3. Ethereum deploys the use of "smart contracts" which is essentially an unbreakable agreement between a party of people in which neither party needs to trust the other party, because the information behind the agreement is readily available within the contract, and automatically executed once the contracts conditions are met...

4. Ethereum is Turing complete! Which means it is computationally universal. Given enough time and computing power, Ethereum can solve any problem. 

5.  The "Greedy Heaviest Observed Subtree" (GHOST) protocol . This essentially removes the possibility of people monopolizing the control of ether.

6. Instead of having a capped amount of Ether in existence.  Etherum has decided to implement a permanently growing linear supply of Ether. This gives anybody in the present era, or future, a fair chance of acquiring the currency. There will be no elephants squatting on the wealth. However, if you choose to use ether as a means of saving wealth, you can because the "supply growth rate" still tends to zero over time. This takes into account the loss of ether from improper storage or unrecoverable funds.

The sucky stuff

- It has scaled at an exuberant rate and therefore given rise to some security issues.

-The hard fork really bummed some people out.

In Conclusion

 Ethereum is like Bitcoin's annoying, intelligent, younger brother. Young gun Ethereum is slapping Bitcoin around and stampeding on his territory.

 Ethereum brings a whole new set of tools to the table and creates a stable platform for decentralized innovation. Bitcoin has introduced the grand idea of decentralized currency to the world and will always have intrinsic value due to its rarity (and possibly its history). In the end I think these two compliment each-other very well... Maybe they are more just like a couple of bros, hangin out, and trying to make the world a better place. 

Comment below with your thoughts!

 P.S. Don't forget so smack that up arrow with your cursor!