This allows users to create “smart contracts”.<\/p>\n
Ethereum can be perceived as a virtual computer made out of blockchain nodes, with every command being confirmed by the entire machine and saved to its\u00a0public ledger.<\/p>\n
Unlike Bitcoin blocks, Ethereum data blocks can hold more than just transaction information and can function as autonomous contracts.<\/p>\n
In simple terms, instead of sending money to an account,\u00a0a user can use Ether to create an open contract which will automatically complete as soon as its requirements are met.<\/p>\n
The contract is then verified and added to the Ethereum blockchain, remaining inert until complete.<\/p>\n
Mining<\/h3>\n
Mining Bitcoin is done through specialised hardware and is rarely profitable for a single user without a large investment in ASIC miners.<\/p>\n
Ethereum uses a different mining system which favours users with consumer GPUs, in order to encourage more independent miners and a stronger network.<\/p>\n
However, mining both of these currencies requires a sizeable initial investment in order to make a reasonable profit.<\/p>\n
When sending Bitcoin or Ethereum to another address on the blockchain, miners use their computing power to solve a proof-of-work problem and add the block of information.<\/p>\n
Miners earn rewards for\u00a0mining blocks in addition to receiving a\u00a0fee for the blockchain transaction.<\/p>\n
Bitcoin and Ethereum users both pay transaction fees in order to add their transaction to the blockchain.<\/p>\n
Due to the limited block size of the Bitcoin blockchain, Bitcoin transfers can take over an hour<\/strong><\/a> for full confirmation, while Ethereum transactions take an average of three minutes<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n The transaction fee paid to miners has another use in the Ethereum blockchain, as it prevents users conducting spam or repeated attacks against smart contracts – due to the increasingly high cost of a large volume of transactions.<\/p>\n For most transactions, the transaction fee on both the Bitcoin and Ethereum blockchain is minimal.<\/p>\n Both Bitcoin and Ethereum are decentralised, but Ethereum attempts to prevent collusion and 51% attacks by encouraging users to mine with graphics cards.<\/p>\n Bitcoin’s blockchain nodes are grouped into many pools, some of which control a large percentage of blocks mined on the blockchain.<\/p>\n Due to this, there is increased potential for collusion on the Bitcoin blockchain.<\/p>\n While the proof-of-work mining system was the initial solution to the security of blockchain technology, Ethereum’s developers have proposed a new method to further increase decentralisation and lower computing power costs.<\/p>\n The upcoming system is a simple proof-of-stake concept which replaces mining with staking currency on whether a block should be added to the blockchain.<\/p>\n Bitcoin and Ethereum cryptocurrencies are the biggest cryptocurrencies by market share, and Bitcoin has been steadily losing<\/strong><\/a> its market share lead since March 2017.<\/p>\n However, Bitcoin remains the most popular and high-value cryptocurrency on the market.<\/p>\n Bitcoin is the largest cryptocurrency in the world, but other cryptocurrencies are quickly catching up to it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341028,"featured_media":95091,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10106],"tags":[187,38499,43056,42124,35,41714,43058],"class_list":["post-209872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-banking","tag-bitcoin","tag-blockchain","tag-difference","tag-ethereum","tag-headline","tag-mining","tag-versus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209872"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341028"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209872"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209872\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":212830,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209872\/revisions\/212830"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Bitcoin-machine.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nDecentralisation and Value<\/h3>\n
Now read:\u00a0OneBit debit card allows you to pay with Bitcoin and Ether<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"