Crypto Academy Week 9 - Homework Post for [@alphafx]

Given the good number of blockchain platforms, I will be looking at Tezos and Ethereum blockchain platform.

I will be looking at

• What is Tezos (XTZ)
• What is Ethereum (ETH)
• Key Differences
• Benefits
• Conclusion

1 What is Tezos (XTZ)

Tezos is one of the fast-growing blockchain built to run smart contracts. Tezos was developed by Arthur Breitman and his wife in 2014, which officially went live in 2018. Arthur Breitman work as a research engineer for Google X and Waymo. Coming up, Tezos became a strong competitor to the Ethereum network.
It was not an easy start for the Tezos blockchain, Breitman happens to get himself into so many mistakes which delay the project. July 2017, Tezos was one of the biggest ICOs. Coming at a time when other blockchains are trying to update, Tezos took the advantage of the moment to climb the ladder among the others.

"Tezos’ main value proposition is “self-regulated” governance within the protocol itself."^Source
The founders of Tezos believe that a truly decentralized system must be decentralized at all levels: not only in the way it discovers blocks, broadcasts transactions, validates transactions and reaches consensus on the same single chain, but each decision-making process must also be decentralized, as must the proposals to amend the protocol.^Source

2 What is Ethereum (ETH)

Ethereum is like the god of the crypto industry created by Vitalik Buterin, and it was launched in 2015. Ethereum is a decentralized blockchain network on which smart contracts are run on. Most decentralized apps are hosted on the Etherum platform. It also a platform for digital currency exchange like Uniswap, MakerDao, etc. Ethereum is a great environment that smart contracts (dApps) are executed without any third party since it a decentralized computing platform.

So far, Ethereum is a platform to host applications like security programs, voting systems, and methods of payment. Note, Ethereum is not a digital currency itself, but it owns its token which is called Ether is used to reward on the network.

3 Key Differences

3.1 Decentralization

Decentralization is the backbone of both platforms. Both Tezos and Ethereum are decentralized blockchain platforms. The amid is to completely take off third parties from transactions. While Ethereum is topping the chart for the decentralized network with proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism. Tezos focus on eliminating the chances of a hard fork occurring by implementing the classic proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism called liquid proof-of-stake (LPoS).
Despite both supporting the development and deployment of the app, Ethereum has more dApps deployed on their network than Tezos. With a good number of dApps on Ethereum, mean Ethereum is more decentralized than Tezos. Then again Tezos is new in the industry.

3.2 Network Security

Ethereum is one of the most secure networks in the world of blockchain. Due to the DAO hack scandal, Ethereum steps up security to avoid such incidents. So it was just very timing for Tezos to put in place security as one of their core values. A problem can be with the dApps running on the different platforms.

3.3 Transaction Speed

This is where we might always see a significant difference within the blockchain ecosystem. This is because the transaction speed has to do with the block, size of the community, and the fees. To complete consensus both platforms will need to these aspects in place.

Ethereum from all will have to stands a better chance than Tezos. Ethereum has a bigger community, hosting more dApps than the Tezos platform. This aspect, causing traffic which has turn to raise the gas cost for the transaction. At this point, Tezos beat Ethereum by implementing the “Delphi”. Delphi is an upgrade that reduces gas requirements by as much as 70% for executing smart contracts.

3.4 Community Support

Like in any community, trust is the foundation. The level of trust from both platforms, given that they are decentralized has strength the support from the different communities. Ethereum will stand talk here because of the big communities they control on the blockchain network.

3.5 Market Value

As of 15th March 2021, Tezos has a market cap of about 5 051 528 048 USD (2 800 000 000 000 XAF), while Ethereum tops at about 282 139 189 479 USD (160 000 000 000 000 XAF) according to coinmarketcap.com. Giving that anything can happen in the months ahead, the range can change due to the volatile nature of the ecosystem.

Screenshot coinmarketcap.com

4 Benefits

4.1 Benefits of Tezos over Ethereum

Gas cost: The implementation of the Delphi upgrade
Hard fork: The network can easily be upgraded without a hard fork
self-amending: The Tezos network stands tall on the fact that it was built with a self-amending feature. Here Tezos is implementing an on-chain mechanism without definitely processing a hard fork.

4.2 Benefits of Ethereum over Tezos

Ethereum's position as the second after Bitcoin has given the platform a large developer community. For this reason, so many dApps are hosted on the network. As a developer it very easy to get help if working on an Ethereum platform. This too has been the more reason for the frequent updates in recent times due to the huge number of developers on the network.

5 Conclusion

It will always be difficult to pick one platform over the other. It all about the goal in the used case, as a user or a developer. Looking at developing a dApps, if decentralization and immutability are your priority then Ethereum is the place for you. If your priority is scalability and fast transaction speeds then Tezos is the home for you. The self-amending feature is the selling point for Tezos as the option of the hard fork is eliminated.

Thanks

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Cc:
@steemcurator01
@steemcurator02
@alphafx