{"slug":"bitcoin-vs-ethereum","question":"Bitcoin vs Ethereum","answer":"Bitcoin is the original cryptocurrency, a store of value ('digital gold') with a $1.3T market cap. Ethereum is a programmable blockchain platform for smart contracts, DeFi, and NFTs with a $400B market cap.","answer_curated":true,"verdict":"Bitcoin for store of value and simplicity. Ethereum for blockchain applications and programmability. Both are essential to crypto.","keyDifferences":[{"label":"Market Cap","winner":"a","entityAValue":"$1.3T","entityBValue":"$400B"},{"label":"Max Supply","winner":"a","entityAValue":"21M","entityBValue":"Unlimited"},{"label":"Smart Contracts","winner":"b","entityAValue":"Limited","entityBValue":"Full Support"},{"label":"Energy Efficiency","winner":"b","entityAValue":"PoW (High)","entityBValue":"PoS (Low)"}],"winner":{"slug":"ethereum","name":"Ethereum"},"confidence":"high","entities":[{"name":"Bitcoin","slug":"bitcoin","url":"https://www.aversusb.net/entity/bitcoin","alternativesUrl":"https://www.aversusb.net/api/v1/alternatives/bitcoin"},{"name":"Ethereum","slug":"ethereum","url":"https://www.aversusb.net/entity/ethereum","alternativesUrl":"https://www.aversusb.net/api/v1/alternatives/ethereum"}],"faqs":[{"question":"Should I buy Bitcoin or Ethereum?","answer":"Bitcoin (BTC) is the simpler, more conservative choice: it is digital gold with a fixed 21M supply cap, institutional adoption via BlackRock's IBIT ETF ($50B+ AUM), and a 15-year track record without a security breach. It is the cleaner investment thesis for those new to crypto. Ethereum (ETH) is a bet on the programmable blockchain ecosystem — if DeFi, smart contracts, and decentralized applications grow, ETH demand grows with them. Ethereum also offers staking yield (~3-5%/year). Most crypto-exposed portfolios hold both. If you must choose one: Bitcoin for store of value; Ethereum for ecosystem exposure. This is not financial advice."},{"question":"What is the difference between Bitcoin and Ethereum?","answer":"Bitcoin is digital money — a peer-to-peer payment system and store of value with no programmability. It has a fixed supply of 21 million coins, uses energy-intensive proof-of-work mining, and is designed to change as little as possible. Ethereum is a programmable blockchain — a decentralized computer that runs smart contracts and dApps. Ethereum supports DeFi protocols, NFTs, stablecoins, and any application that can be encoded in smart contract logic. Bitcoin does one thing (be money) extremely reliably; Ethereum does many things (run the decentralized web) with more complexity and risk surface."},{"question":"Is Ethereum faster than Bitcoin?","answer":"Ethereum's base layer processes approximately 15 transactions per second (TPS) vs Bitcoin's approximately 7 TPS on-chain. However, Ethereum's Layer 2 networks (Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, zkSync) process thousands of TPS at fees as low as $0.01-0.10, making Ethereum's ecosystem significantly faster and cheaper for application usage than Bitcoin's base layer. Bitcoin's Lightning Network provides similarly fast, cheap payments but with lower overall capacity. For everyday payments, both Layer 2 ecosystems work well. For smart contract execution and DeFi transactions, Ethereum's Layer 2 is the practical standard."}],"attribution":{"source":"A Versus B","url":"https://www.aversusb.net/compare/bitcoin-vs-ethereum","license":"CC BY 4.0","citationFormat":"According to A Versus B (https://www.aversusb.net/compare/bitcoin-vs-ethereum), Bitcoin is the original cryptocurrency, a store of value ('digital gold') with a $1.3T market cap. Ethereum is a programmable blockchain platform for smart contracts, DeFi, and NFTs with a $400B marke","dateModified":"2026-08-18T09:00:24.158Z"},"relatedQuestionsUrl":"https://www.aversusb.net/api/faq/bitcoin-vs-ethereum","relatedComparisonsUrl":"https://www.aversusb.net/api/v1/related/bitcoin-vs-ethereum","knowledgeGraphUrl":"https://www.aversusb.net/api/knowledge-graph/bitcoin-vs-ethereum","claimReviewSchema":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"ClaimReview","@id":"https://www.aversusb.net/compare/bitcoin-vs-ethereum#claimreview","url":"https://www.aversusb.net/compare/bitcoin-vs-ethereum","inLanguage":"en-US","isAccessibleForFree":true,"conditionsOfAccess":"Free","claimReviewed":"Ethereum is better than Bitcoin for most use cases","reviewBody":"Bitcoin is the original cryptocurrency, a store of value ('digital gold') with a $1.3T market cap. Ethereum is a programmable blockchain platform for smart contracts, DeFi, and NFTs with a $400B market cap.","datePublished":"2025-06-01T00:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-18T09:00:24.158Z","reviewRating":{"@type":"Rating","ratingValue":"TRUE","bestRating":"TRUE","worstRating":"FALSE","alternateName":"Ethereum wins","ratingExplanation":"Verified verdict based on structured attribute comparison, community votes, and expert analysis"},"author":{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.aversusb.net/#organization","name":"A Versus B","url":"https://www.aversusb.net"},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.aversusb.net/#organization","name":"A Versus B","url":"https://www.aversusb.net"},"itemReviewed":{"@type":"Claim","@id":"https://www.aversusb.net/compare/bitcoin-vs-ethereum#claim","inLanguage":"en-US","name":"Ethereum is better than Bitcoin for most use cases","text":"Bitcoin is the original cryptocurrency, a store of value ('digital gold') with a $1.3T market cap. Ethereum is a programmable blockchain platform for smart contracts, DeFi, and NFTs with a $400B market cap.","author":{"@type":"Thing","name":"Internet consensus"},"appearance":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://www.aversusb.net/compare/bitcoin-vs-ethereum","url":"https://www.aversusb.net/compare/bitcoin-vs-ethereum","name":"Bitcoin vs Ethereum","inLanguage":"en-US"},"firstAppearance":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://www.aversusb.net/compare/bitcoin-vs-ethereum","url":"https://www.aversusb.net/compare/bitcoin-vs-ethereum","name":"Bitcoin vs Ethereum"}},"speakable":{"@type":"SpeakableSpecification","cssSelector":[".claim-review-answer","#short-answer","#verdict"]}}}