5 ms·

What are the advantages Ethereum has over Bitcoin, except faster transactions?

by lpasselin 9y ago

JoshTriplett 9y ago
More capable embedded code that can implement interesting criteria to be enforced on transactions.
- benmowa 9y ago
  I'm just learning but are there any real world examples of this yet? any idea what % of transactions utilize this today?
  - tyrust 9y ago
    >I'm just learning but are there any real world examples of this yet? Yes. The whitepaper lists many potential applications [0]. Some interesting ones today include issuing tokens for crowdsales ("ICO"s), gambling applications (FunFair), distributed computing (Golem), peer-to-peer payments and distributed apps (Status). There are many more that I am not familiar with. >any idea what % of transactions utilize this today? https://etherscan.io/accounts/c https://etherscan.io/accounts/c lists all smart contracts along with the amount of ETH they hold and the number of transactions that have called them. This doesn't completely answer your question, sorry. [0] - https://github.com/ethereum/wiki/wiki/White-Paper#applications https://github.com/ethereum/wiki/wiki/White-Paper#applicatio...
  - skulquake 9y ago
    Your probably looking for some working examples of dApps (decentralized apps). Install MetaMask for Chrome and visit one of these sites: http://etheroll.com http://etheroll.com, http://etherdelta.github.io http://etherdelta.github.io, and http://oasisdex.com http://oasisdex.com are all working examples of smart contracts at work.
- metroidfan832 9y ago
  That is a disadvantage. You can shoot yourself in the foot with real money.
mpfundstein 9y ago
a Turing complete scripting language for smart contracts that looks like Java
- ajmurmann 9y ago
  Looks like JavaScript
  - sremani 9y ago
    Actually there are languages outside of Solidity, lll (lisp like) is the most intriguing to me, and Serpent(python like), there is one more (which I am failing to recall). But Solidity is the flagship language.
    - komaromy 9y ago
      https://twitter.com/VitalikButerin/status/886400133667201024 https://twitter.com/VitalikButerin/status/886400133667201024 Serpent is outdated; Viper is an up-and-coming replacement.
  - DennisP 9y ago
    They both have curly braces but... Solidity: strong static typing, class-based, all numbers are integers. Javascript: weak dynamic typing, prototype-based, all numbers are floats.
- metroidfan832 9y ago
  That is not an advantage though.
JumpCrisscross 9y ago
Better politics, internally and externally. Internally because the community isn't as hardcore. Externally because it hasn't been publicly associated with black markets the way Bitcoin has.
- raesene9 9y ago
  As a relative outsider, it doesn't seem to me like ethereum has a great history of good politics, given the whole DAO, hard fork, eth classic setup (https://www.cryptocompare.com/coins/guides/the-dao-the-hack-the-soft-fork-and-the-hard-fork/ https://www.cryptocompare.com/coins/guides/the-dao-the-hack-...)
  - JumpCrisscross 9y ago
    I'm not a fan of the DAO decisions, but reversing a prima facie fraudulent transaction is uncontroversial in banking. Bigger than that is the tone with which the Bitcoin communicates. There's that prominent Bitcoin enthusiast who likes to cuss and scream and demonize perceived opponents on Twitter. There's another one (maybe the same guy?) who moderates with a vengeful bias on Reddit. That kind of shit-throwing is anathema to a large company.
    - eriknstr 9y ago
      > There's another one (maybe the same guy?) who moderates with a vengeful bias on Reddit. That kind of shit-throwing is anathema to a large company. Also due to some being unhappy with the moderation of /r/bitcoin there's a separate community called /r/btc. Then again, there are many communities on Reddit that have split up due to disagreements about moderation, such as for example /r/meirl vs the previously vastly more popular /r/me_irl [1]. (The latter of these still has about 3x the amount of subscribers though, but /r/me_irl has grown to become large indeed.) [1]: https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/3z2pax/me_irl_vs_meirl_what_happened_there/ https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/3z2pax/me_irl...
      - deleted 9y ago
ojr 9y ago
the developer experience and tooling is easier the bitcoin I believe, it has an official javascript api for its blockchain, and also has a framework/language (Solidity) for creating financial applications on top of it
- throwaway91111 9y ago
  I would also list this in the "con" side. It can be very difficult to spot malicious bugs in the blockchain scripts.
metroidfan832 9y ago
The price is lower and market less deep so it is easier to get rich by buying now.
ankitgupta191 9y ago
"Smart Contracts"
skulquake 9y ago
People like to compare the two but they are actually quite different. Bitcoin is supposed to be a store of value, Ethereum is a new decentralized web protocol. ETH is the gas used to power smart contracts on this protocol.
joeblau 9y ago
They are two different technologies for two different problems. Your question is analogous to asking what advantages gold has over oil. Genrally: - Bitcoin is a store of value token with the goal of becoming a decentralized reserve currency. - Ethereum is a smart contracts token with the goal of turning all business operations into programmatic traceable transactions.
icelancer 9y ago
Aside from the technical upside of Ethereum, the community around BTC is about as toxic, fractured, and petty as it gets.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

What are the advantages Ethereum has over Bitcoin, except faster transactions?

JoshTriplett 9y ago

More capable embedded code that can implement interesting criteria to be enforced on transactions.

benmowa 9y ago
I'm just learning but are there any real world examples of this yet? any idea what % of transactions utilize this today?
- tyrust 9y ago
  >I'm just learning but are there any real world examples of this yet? Yes. The whitepaper lists many potential applications [0]. Some interesting ones today include issuing tokens for crowdsales ("ICO"s), gambling applications (FunFair), distributed computing (Golem), peer-to-peer payments and distributed apps (Status). There are many more that I am not familiar with. >any idea what % of transactions utilize this today? https://etherscan.io/accounts/c https://etherscan.io/accounts/c lists all smart contracts along with the amount of ETH they hold and the number of transactions that have called them. This doesn't completely answer your question, sorry. [0] - https://github.com/ethereum/wiki/wiki/White-Paper#applications https://github.com/ethereum/wiki/wiki/White-Paper#applicatio...
- skulquake 9y ago
  Your probably looking for some working examples of dApps (decentralized apps). Install MetaMask for Chrome and visit one of these sites: http://etheroll.com http://etheroll.com, http://etherdelta.github.io http://etherdelta.github.io, and http://oasisdex.com http://oasisdex.com are all working examples of smart contracts at work.
metroidfan832 9y ago
That is a disadvantage. You can shoot yourself in the foot with real money.

mpfundstein 9y ago

a Turing complete scripting language for smart contracts that looks like Java

ajmurmann 9y ago
Looks like JavaScript
- sremani 9y ago
  Actually there are languages outside of Solidity, lll (lisp like) is the most intriguing to me, and Serpent(python like), there is one more (which I am failing to recall). But Solidity is the flagship language.
  - komaromy 9y ago
    https://twitter.com/VitalikButerin/status/886400133667201024 https://twitter.com/VitalikButerin/status/886400133667201024 Serpent is outdated; Viper is an up-and-coming replacement.
- DennisP 9y ago
  They both have curly braces but... Solidity: strong static typing, class-based, all numbers are integers. Javascript: weak dynamic typing, prototype-based, all numbers are floats.
metroidfan832 9y ago
That is not an advantage though.

JumpCrisscross 9y ago

Better politics, internally and externally. Internally because the community isn't as hardcore. Externally because it hasn't been publicly associated with black markets the way Bitcoin has.

raesene9 9y ago
As a relative outsider, it doesn't seem to me like ethereum has a great history of good politics, given the whole DAO, hard fork, eth classic setup (https://www.cryptocompare.com/coins/guides/the-dao-the-hack-the-soft-fork-and-the-hard-fork/ https://www.cryptocompare.com/coins/guides/the-dao-the-hack-...)
- JumpCrisscross 9y ago
  I'm not a fan of the DAO decisions, but reversing a prima facie fraudulent transaction is uncontroversial in banking. Bigger than that is the tone with which the Bitcoin communicates. There's that prominent Bitcoin enthusiast who likes to cuss and scream and demonize perceived opponents on Twitter. There's another one (maybe the same guy?) who moderates with a vengeful bias on Reddit. That kind of shit-throwing is anathema to a large company.
  - eriknstr 9y ago
    > There's another one (maybe the same guy?) who moderates with a vengeful bias on Reddit. That kind of shit-throwing is anathema to a large company. Also due to some being unhappy with the moderation of /r/bitcoin there's a separate community called /r/btc. Then again, there are many communities on Reddit that have split up due to disagreements about moderation, such as for example /r/meirl vs the previously vastly more popular /r/me_irl [1]. (The latter of these still has about 3x the amount of subscribers though, but /r/me_irl has grown to become large indeed.) [1]: https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/3z2pax/me_irl_vs_meirl_what_happened_there/ https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/3z2pax/me_irl...
    - deleted 9y ago

ojr 9y ago

the developer experience and tooling is easier the bitcoin I believe, it has an official javascript api for its blockchain, and also has a framework/language (Solidity) for creating financial applications on top of it

throwaway91111 9y ago
I would also list this in the "con" side. It can be very difficult to spot malicious bugs in the blockchain scripts.

metroidfan832 9y ago

The price is lower and market less deep so it is easier to get rich by buying now.

ankitgupta191 9y ago

"Smart Contracts"

skulquake 9y ago

People like to compare the two but they are actually quite different. Bitcoin is supposed to be a store of value, Ethereum is a new decentralized web protocol. ETH is the gas used to power smart contracts on this protocol.

joeblau 9y ago

They are two different technologies for two different problems. Your question is analogous to asking what advantages gold has over oil. Genrally: - Bitcoin is a store of value token with the goal of becoming a decentralized reserve currency. - Ethereum is a smart contracts token with the goal of turning all business operations into programmatic traceable transactions.

icelancer 9y ago

Aside from the technical upside of Ethereum, the community around BTC is about as toxic, fractured, and petty as it gets.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]