Bitcoin vs Ethereum

Bitcoin is the first decentralized blockchain, secured by proof‑of‑work where miners expend SHA‑256 hash power to find valid blocks every ~10 minutes. The supply is capped at 21 million coins, with inflation halving roughly every four years—the most recent halving occurred on 20 April 2024. Upgrades like SegWit and Taproot have enabled second‑layer protocols such as the Lightning Network and emerging covenants via OP_CTV debates.

Ethereum is the leading smart‑contract platform, now running Proof‑of‑Stake after the 2022 ‘Merge’ and gearing up for full Danksharding. Proto‑danksharding (EIP‑4844) activated blob transactions in March 2024, slashing rollup data costs by > 90 %. The upcoming Pectra upgrade will pair Verkle trees with wallet abstraction (EIP‑4337) to simplify UX.