If Bitcoin is the King of crypto, what makes of Ethereum?

Most crypto investors (and speculators) have an initial encounter that goes somewhere along the lines of “Bitcoin vs Ethereum” - Which crypto should I pay more attention to, or invest more in? Which one is a bigger bet on the future that I hope to see? What are their fundamental differences?

There is a lot of history that can be laid out detailing the very different paths that these two top cryptocurrencies took. As their respective marketing would like you to believe, Bitcoin is hard and sound money while Ethereum is ultrasound money. Simply put, Bitcoin will, among other features, only ever have a supply of 21 million coins -- a feature that appeals to the anti-Fiat brigade who believes that the wanton printing of money by central banks should be condemned not commended.

Ethereum, on the opposite end, has what you can call a rather flexible monetary policy. Its total supply is unknown, and recently, due to changes in the protocol that saw it transition to a proof-of-stake network, is now potentially a deflationary asset during times of high usage.

Smart contracts on Ethereum also enable a whole host of other activities on-chain including DeFi, GameFi and NFTs. Bitcoin for all its purposes, simply chugs along sticking to what it was set out to do -- to be an alternative (Internet) global currency.

The staunch belief in each of their fundamental differences also means that the respective supporters of Bitcoin and Ethereum tend to display extreme, “maxi” behaviour such as only being able to imagine a future where one of the coins can reign supreme but not both.

The points of contention between both cryptocurrencies can be basically boiled down to the following:

• Ethereum is less decentralized than Bitcoin

• Ethereum Foundation can choose to alter its monetary policy at any time

• Bitcoin has not made any significant upgrades and innovation in a while; development is dead

• Ethereum has a greater risk of regulatory shut-down due to classification as a security

• Ethereum’s Solidity code is patchy and prone to exploits and hacks

• Miner Extractable Value (MEV) is more rampant on Ethereum due to more complex transactions

The above list is non-exhaustive, but is a sober enough run-down when comparing both assets.

Naturally, I support a future where both can thrive and co-exist. My first crypto purchase was Ethereum, followed by VeChain and Bitcoin Cash after having done very little research in July 2020. Upon deeper digging, I quickly remedied the errors of my ways by selling all of my VeChain and swapping Bitcoin Cash for Bitcoin, never to look back again. Seeing the meteoric rise of both during the subsequent bull run solidified my interest in the crypto world and I continue to stack both Bitcoin and Ethereum as an opportunist of asymmetrical bets, albeit at a more crippled and wounded pace.

For newbies or n00bs, there is no rush to fall quickly into either camps. The way I see it, both Bitcoin and Ethereum have a place in the sun and a future where both cryptocurrencies can improve the lives of humans -- be it for permissionless, borderless banking or data provenance and ownership amid the tsunami of deep fakes.

Personally, I look forward to the day when Bitcoin takes the place of gold as a hard, safe haven asset that a digital generation can fully embrace. I also at the same time, enjoy playing on Ethereum while having my footprints recorded in a profound way that I am as yet unable to fully fathom.

Just like how our caveman ancestors left signs of their ways of life behind, I see blockchain technology as a similar invention that can help our future descendants decipher how we once lived during this particular epoch. Trading .jpegs of rocks? How primitive indeed.