The difference between Ethereum and Bitcoin is significant. Technically, Bitcoin uses PoW, and Ether has shifted from PoW to PoS. Trading speed is slow for Bitcoin and Ethereum is fast. In application scenarios, Bitcoin focuses on payment storage, while Ether supports smart contracts and DApps. In terms of issuance, the total amount of Bitcoin is 21 million, and there is no fixed total amount of Ether coins. Each security challenge is available. In terms of market value, Bitcoin ranks first, and the price fluctuations of both are large, but due to different characteristics, the price trend of Ethereum is unique.

1. Technical Principles

• Bitcoin : Bitcoin is based on blockchain technology and mainly adopts the Proof of Work (PoW) consensus mechanism. Miners verify transactions and create new blocks by solving complex mathematical problems, competing for bookkeeping rights, which consumes a lot of computing resources and energy.
• Ethereum : Ethereum also uses blockchain technology, but based on the PoW mechanism, Ethereum plans to gradually shift to the Proof of Stake (PoS) mechanism. The PoS mechanism determines the accounting rights based on the number and time of the Ether coins held by the node, which is more energy-saving than PoW and can also improve the security and efficiency of the network to a certain extent.

2. Trading speed and efficiency

• Bitcoin : The transaction speed of the Bitcoin network is relatively slow, and can only process a few to dozens of transactions per second. This is because Bitcoin has certain limitations on the block size and block production time, which leads to its inefficiency in handling large-scale transactions.
• Ethereum : The transaction speed of Ethereum is theoretically faster than Bitcoin, and can process dozens to hundreds of transactions per second. Moreover, Ethereum is constantly upgrading its technology, such as using sharding technology, to further improve transaction processing capabilities and network performance.

Mainstream cryptocurrency exchanges in 2025:

Ouyi OKX:

Binance Binance:

Gateio Sesame Opening:

bitget:

3. Application scenarios

• Bitcoin : It is mainly designed as a decentralized digital currency for store of value and peer-to-peer transaction payments. It is regarded as "digital gold" and is also accepted as a legal means of payment in some countries and regions. In addition, it has certain applications in cross-border transfers and anonymous transactions.
• Ethereum : In addition to trading as a digital currency, it is more important that it fuels smart contracts and decentralized applications (DApps) on the Ethereum blockchain. Developers can create various blockchain-based applications on the Ethereum platform, such as decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), etc., with a wider application scenario.

4. Block reward and issuance mechanism

• Bitcoin : The total issuance of Bitcoin is fixed, at 21 million. The mining rewards are gradually released. For every new block mined, the miner will receive a certain amount of Bitcoin as a reward. Over time, the number of rewards will gradually decrease by half.
• Ether : There is no fixed limit on the total issuance of Ether. In the PoW stage of Ethereum, new Ether coins are generated through mining as block rewards; after turning to the PoS mechanism, the issuance mechanism has been adjusted, mainly by staking Ether coins by verifiers. The specific issuance number will be adjusted according to network needs and algorithms.

5. Security

• Bitcoin : Since Bitcoin is the earliest cryptocurrency to emerge, its blockchain network has undergone a long-term test, has huge computing power and numerous node support, and is highly secure. However, with the development of technology and the expansion of network scale, we also face some potential security threats such as 51% attacks.
• Ethereum : Ethereum's security is also relatively reliable, but the complexity of its smart contracts may introduce some security risks, such as smart contract vulnerabilities that may lead to fund losses. However, the Ethereum community is also constantly strengthening security mechanisms and auditing to improve network security.

6. Market value and price fluctuations

• Bitcoin : As the leader in the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin's market value has long dominated, its price is relatively high, and it has a large fluctuation. Its price is affected by various factors such as market supply and demand relations, macroeconomic environment, policies and regulations, and investor sentiment, and often experiences sharp rise and fall.
• Ether : The market value of Ether is second only to Bitcoin and is the second most important digital currency in the cryptocurrency market. Its price fluctuations are also relatively severe, but due to the diversity of application scenarios and continuous technological development, the price trend of Ethereum also has its unique characteristics, and in some periods, there may be different price performance from Bitcoin.

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