Ethereum vs bitcoin page#16239
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Sorry, filled out a review as I read through, but some things were answered as I got to the bottom of it... held off on submitting to clean it up and now it's buried in an old commit so just submitting it as-is and can add as-needed separately
| "page-ethereum-vs-bitcoin-differences-table-row-3-1": "Supply", | ||
| "page-ethereum-vs-bitcoin-differences-table-row-3-2": "Fixed at 21 million", | ||
| "page-ethereum-vs-bitcoin-differences-table-row-3-3": "Dynamic with a burn mechanism", |
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Careful with "supply" vs "max supply"...
ETH is burned every block proportional to activity/demand, and issued every epoch proportional to total ETH staked. No fixed limit, but the rate of issuance is limited by total ETH staked.
BTC is issued every block at a fixed/predetermined rate dictated by the original and unchanged protocol, with an eventual fixed limit of ~21 million.
| "page-ethereum-vs-bitcoin-differences-table-row-4-2": "Proof-of-work", | ||
| "page-ethereum-vs-bitcoin-differences-table-row-4-3": "Proof-of-stake", | ||
| "page-ethereum-vs-bitcoin-differences-table-row-5-1": "Speed", | ||
| "page-ethereum-vs-bitcoin-differences-table-row-5-2": "Around 60 minutes to finality", |
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There is no such thing as finality on Bitcoin, it's all probabilistic.
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perhaps:
"Considered by most to be irreversible after six blocks, averaging 60 minutes" or some piece of this
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I see this was commented on later in the page, feel free to ignore, or take with a grain of salt
| "page-ethereum-vs-bitcoin-usecases-and-adoption-4": "Institutional adoption reflects these differences. Bitcoin the cryptocurrency is widely held as a long-term store of value, while <strong>Ethereum is seen as decentralized infrastructure</strong>. Its programmability appeals to fintech platforms and payment providers.", | ||
| "page-ethereum-vs-bitcoin-usecases-and-adoption-5": "Learn more about <what-is-ethereum>what Ethereum is used for</what-is-ethereum>.", | ||
| "page-ethereum-vs-bitcoin-monetary-policy-title": "Monetary policy", | ||
| "page-ethereum-vs-bitcoin-monetary-policy-1": "Bitcoin's supply is capped at <strong>21 million coins</strong>. This hard limit is enforced by the protocol and is one of the reasons Bitcoin is compared to gold. New bitcoins enter circulation through <strong>mining rewards</strong>, which are <strong>cut in half roughly every four years</strong> in an event called <strong>the halving</strong>. The reward started at 50 bitcoins per block in 2009, dropped to 25 in 2012, then 12.5 in 2016, and so on.", |
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If we want to be specific, it halves every 210,000 blocks, which explains why it's not actually every four years.
| "page-ethereum-vs-bitcoin-monetary-policy-1": "Bitcoin's supply is capped at <strong>21 million coins</strong>. This hard limit is enforced by the protocol and is one of the reasons Bitcoin is compared to gold. New bitcoins enter circulation through <strong>mining rewards</strong>, which are <strong>cut in half roughly every four years</strong> in an event called <strong>the halving</strong>. The reward started at 50 bitcoins per block in 2009, dropped to 25 in 2012, then 12.5 in 2016, and so on.", | ||
| "page-ethereum-vs-bitcoin-monetary-policy-2": "At this rate, the last bitcoin is expected to be mined around the year 2140.", | ||
| "page-ethereum-vs-bitcoin-monetary-policy-3": "<strong>Ethereum does not have a fixed supply cap</strong>. Instead, its issuance is determined by protocol rules, and recent upgrades have introduced mechanisms that can reduce supply over time. The most notable is the EIP-1559 upgrade, which burns a portion of transaction fees. When <strong>network activity is high, more ETH can be burned</strong> than issued, making the supply deflationary during those periods.", | ||
| "page-ethereum-vs-bitcoin-monetary-policy-4": "The two approaches reflect different priorities. Bitcoin's fixed supply appeals to those who want predictability and scarcity. Ethereum's more flexible model supports ongoing network incentives and development, while still introducing mechanisms to manage supply growth.", |
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May be worth noting that Ethereum's approach guarantees a security budget in perpetuity, i.e., rewards for those securing the network. Bitcoin issuance will eventually be zero, reliant entirely on fees.
…t in Ethereum vs Bitcoin page
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Left a few more suggestions.
A general comment, a key part of the differences here comes down to Turing completeness—Bitcoin is intentionally Turing incomplete, while Ethereum is Turing complete—meaning one is tightly constrained on what it's capable of doing (again, intentional, and reduces complexity significantly) while the other is capable of being programmed to do anything.
Not sure if it's worth adding something on this, but just noting it. cc: @konopkja
@corwintines and @konopkja We use the new LinkWithArrow on the /what-is-the-ethereum-network/ page—would suggest using the same for the trailing section links throughout this page.
| "page-ethereum-vs-bitcoin-monetary-policy-1": "Bitcoin's supply will cap at <strong>21 million coins</strong>. This hard limit is enforced by the protocol and is one of the reasons Bitcoin is compared to gold. New bitcoin enter circulation through <strong>mining rewards</strong>, which <strong>cut in half every 210,000 blocks</strong>, which takes roughly 4 years to mine, in an event called <strong>the halving</strong>. The reward started at 50 bitcoin per block in 2009, dropped to 25 in 2012, then 12.5 in 2016, and so on. At this rate, the last bitcoin is expected to be mined around the year 2140.", | ||
| "page-ethereum-vs-bitcoin-monetary-policy-2": "Bitcoin's mining rewards and transaction fees pay for the network and are used to secure it. However, as the block reward halves, the network is more dependent on transaction fees to pay for itself. Currently network fees make up a small portion of the network's income, <5%, meaning the long-term security of the network may be at risk.", | ||
| "page-ethereum-vs-bitcoin-monetary-policy-3": "<strong>Ethereum does not have a fixed supply cap</strong>. Instead, its issuance is determined by protocol rules, and recent upgrades have introduced mechanisms that can reduce supply over time. The most notable is the EIP-1559 upgrade, which burns a portion of transaction fees. When <strong>network activity is high, more ETH can be burned</strong> than issued, making the supply deflationary during those periods.", | ||
| "page-ethereum-vs-bitcoin-monetary-policy-4": "Ethereum's monetary approach guarantees a security budget in perpetuity, with transaction fees and block rewards providing the network's security budget.", |
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Still wondering if adding a concise note about this being different from Bitcoin (given the topic of the page), where on Bitcoin issuance will eventually be 0, leaving full reliance on fees for miner incentivization.
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...although, the framing of "the two networks are not in direct competition" may make this slightly less appropriate... cc: @konopkja
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Co-authored-by: wackerow <54227730+wackerow@users.noreply.github.com>
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Co-authored-by: wackerow <54227730+wackerow@users.noreply.github.com>
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Co-authored-by: wackerow <54227730+wackerow@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: wackerow <54227730+wackerow@users.noreply.github.com>
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@corwintines in this table can the first column on the left have grey bg and the text be also bolded?
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Would request this be broken out as a separate design task to update the Table with a variant... to not muddy this PR 🙏 |
…ighting the first column
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@konopkja pushed up the first column changes, but made it consistent wtih the current colors of our tables design system. I think if we want to change more than that we can do it in a different PR. |
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@corwintines Lgtm, pulling in!
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