Glossary · B

Bitcoin vs Ethereum: what's the difference?

Last reviewed:

Bitcoin and Ethereum are the two largest blockchains, but they were built for different jobs. Bitcoin focuses on being digital money with a fixed supply of 21 million coins. Ethereum is built to run smart contracts and apps, and its coin, ether, pays the fees for them. Bitcoin uses mining; Ethereum uses proof of stake.

Related terms

Join the Academy

Start here. Learn first. The sample lessons, topic pages and glossary are open to read, with no card and no signup.

Start with the open sample lessons