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Bitcoin has smart contracts, and has for many years now. Ethereum's marketing for the phrase is kind of misleading. Why the downvoting? Apparently a number of

Bitcoin has smart contracts, and has for many years now. Ethereum's marketing for the phrase is kind of misleading. Why the downvoting? Apparently a number of people haven't heard of Bitcoin Script, or are upset I pointed out this very factual item about Bitcoin? Seems somewhat odd.

bitcoinbutter 7y ago
Ethereum's smart contracts are obviously more developer friendly and easier to implement. Ethereum smart contracts are the go-to for dapps, despite having a significantly smaller userbase and market cap than bitcoin. To say Bitcoin smart contracts are equal to Ethereum smart contracts would be akin to comparing Myspace to Facebook.
- sterlind 7y ago
  Bitcoin originated smart contracts, but they were severely limited due to a filter that was imposed. Arbitrary scrypt execution was seen as a security risk (despite not being Turing-complete), so a set of scrypt templates were whitelisted. I think all clients would accept blocks with any scrypt in them, but most pools would only accept transactions with the fixed templates. Bitcoin does have enough flexibility to do trustless cross-chain trading though, so it's possible to do dapp logic in Eth and manipulate BTC funds indirectly. (IIRC)
- jimmaswell 7y ago
  And MySpace was better all around in objective terms, but facebook was dumbed down for mass appeal so it won out?
  - wnevets 7y ago
    >was dumbed down for mass appeal so it won out? thats usually how it works
    - jimmaswell 7y ago
      Yes, I just don't think the analogy worked very well.
  - ethbro 7y ago
    This is a false narrative. Facebook better optimized for the fact that most people are too stupid to avoid using full-page background images and auto-playing music.
    - jimmaswell 7y ago
      I thought it was a lot cooler back then. People got their own customized little places about themselves, maybe with some fun media playing. Now it's all boring and sterilized.
      - ethbro 7y ago
        It was a blessing and a curse. The internet in general is probably "better designed" now, but also way more homogenized and boring.
AlexCoventry 7y ago
Discreet-log contracts are a miracle, but in the same way that a dancing bear is a miracle. There's no way they can compete with smart contracts on a platform designed with smart contracts in mind, at least on a technical level. (Maybe we'll all end up using discrete-log contracts and their descendants due to network effects, but I doubt it. Or maybe some richer zero-knowledge contract-enforcement scheme can be devised on bitcoin... Maybe.)
- grubles 7y ago
  Ethereum as a platform has made many bad design decisions. It's not really suitable for a lot of things; including, well, things it was marketed for (unstoppable, uncensorable, scalable applications).
  - AlexCoventry 7y ago
    I'm sure something better for those design goals than Ethereum will come along, but I seriously doubt it's going to be Bitcoin.
    - robcohen 7y ago
      Cardano, although still not ready for primetime, seems like a likely candidate. EDIT : I do work for IOHK and I am biased.
    - grubles 7y ago
      Surely you haven't heard of Simplicity then. A potential replacement for Bitcoin's current scripting language. https://blockstream.com/2018/11/28/en-simplicity-github/ https://blockstream.com/2018/11/28/en-simplicity-github/
- keymone 7y ago
  Bitcoin was literally designed with contracts (programs deciding transactions) in mind from its inception. Ethereum is just script kiddies piling JavaScript onto blockchain and calling it the greatest invention in human history.

bitcoinbutter 7y ago

Ethereum's smart contracts are obviously more developer friendly and easier to implement. Ethereum smart contracts are the go-to for dapps, despite having a significantly smaller userbase and market cap than bitcoin. To say Bitcoin smart contracts are equal to Ethereum smart contracts would be akin to comparing Myspace to Facebook.

sterlind 7y ago
Bitcoin originated smart contracts, but they were severely limited due to a filter that was imposed. Arbitrary scrypt execution was seen as a security risk (despite not being Turing-complete), so a set of scrypt templates were whitelisted. I think all clients would accept blocks with any scrypt in them, but most pools would only accept transactions with the fixed templates. Bitcoin does have enough flexibility to do trustless cross-chain trading though, so it's possible to do dapp logic in Eth and manipulate BTC funds indirectly. (IIRC)
jimmaswell 7y ago
And MySpace was better all around in objective terms, but facebook was dumbed down for mass appeal so it won out?
- wnevets 7y ago
  >was dumbed down for mass appeal so it won out? thats usually how it works
  - jimmaswell 7y ago
    Yes, I just don't think the analogy worked very well.
- ethbro 7y ago
  This is a false narrative. Facebook better optimized for the fact that most people are too stupid to avoid using full-page background images and auto-playing music.
  - jimmaswell 7y ago
    I thought it was a lot cooler back then. People got their own customized little places about themselves, maybe with some fun media playing. Now it's all boring and sterilized.
    - ethbro 7y ago
      It was a blessing and a curse. The internet in general is probably "better designed" now, but also way more homogenized and boring.

AlexCoventry 7y ago

Discreet-log contracts are a miracle, but in the same way that a dancing bear is a miracle. There's no way they can compete with smart contracts on a platform designed with smart contracts in mind, at least on a technical level. (Maybe we'll all end up using discrete-log contracts and their descendants due to network effects, but I doubt it. Or maybe some richer zero-knowledge contract-enforcement scheme can be devised on bitcoin... Maybe.)

grubles 7y ago
Ethereum as a platform has made many bad design decisions. It's not really suitable for a lot of things; including, well, things it was marketed for (unstoppable, uncensorable, scalable applications).
- AlexCoventry 7y ago
  I'm sure something better for those design goals than Ethereum will come along, but I seriously doubt it's going to be Bitcoin.
  - robcohen 7y ago
    Cardano, although still not ready for primetime, seems like a likely candidate. EDIT : I do work for IOHK and I am biased.
  - grubles 7y ago
    Surely you haven't heard of Simplicity then. A potential replacement for Bitcoin's current scripting language. https://blockstream.com/2018/11/28/en-simplicity-github/ https://blockstream.com/2018/11/28/en-simplicity-github/
keymone 7y ago
Bitcoin was literally designed with contracts (programs deciding transactions) in mind from its inception. Ethereum is just script kiddies piling JavaScript onto blockchain and calling it the greatest invention in human history.