Cryptocurrency and the blockchain technology have been having a rather significant impact on modern society. Just a decade ago many people could not have even imagined that something like that will erase, develop and speed up technological progress. Today Ethereum and

Bitcoin currency

are two indisputable leaders among other digital currencies by market capitalization.

After the launch of these two virtual currencies, we started thinking about money differently. For example, if you told someone lets say 7 years ago that digital currencies could have potentially become an alternative means of payment, hardly anyone would have taken that seriously.

Ethereum vs Bitcoin: Performance

Bitcoin

This is the world`s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, that is indeed the most popular and demanded virtual asset on the market. It was developed by a person or a group of people who used a name Satoshi Nakamoto. The first digital cryptocurrency ever was launched back in January 2009.

Bitcoin actually stands for two things: a cryptocurrency and a peer-to-peer payment system, where

BTC

is used.

These innovative digital payment system with a cryptographically protected accounting unit that provides access to its services was a very first successful project of that kind. It had a really strong impact on the further development of the cryptocurrency industry and even beyond. Since the payment system is based on the

blockchain technology

, it helped popularize this technology that can be applied way widely that just in virtual currencies.

Bitcoin payment system is used to purchase goods and services, as well as to store a valuable monetary resource (in this case the cryptocurrency is actually similar to gold).

Purchasing BTC is not the only option to get the most popular digital coins. One can also engage in mining or use Bitcoin faucets. This

digital currency

has a limited number of coins to be issued. The smallest fraction of BTC is called satoshi and amounts to 0.00000001 BTC.

Ethereum

This is the second cryptocurrency by market capitalization, as well as a platform for the development of decentralized blockchain-based applications, created by Vitalik Buterin, Joseph Lubin, Gavin Wood, and others. The cryptocurrency was initially launched in July 2015. This is an inflationary coin, which means that the issue of

ethereum coin

is not limited to a certain number.

Just like Bitcoin, Ethereum basically stands for two things: a platform for the development of decentralized blockchain-based applications and smart contracts, and a well-known crypto coin ETH. The smallest fraction of ETH is called Wei and amounts to 0.0000000000000001 ETH.

Ethereum vs Bitcoin: Price

Different media and not only crypto-related ones, often talk alot about these two cryptocurrency market leaders. And first of all, everybody is paying attention to their rates, of course. But following media outlets is not the only option to find out the price of any

Crypto coin.

You can use online services like

CoinMarketCap

to check the current rate of any virtual currency to fiat money or to another coin. There are also different charts and diagrams that demonstrate rate volatility, so that users can check how the rates of cryptocurrencies were changing throughout their history.

Bitcoin price

BTC rate is not that sustainable. It changes all the time and it is rather difficult to make any predictions especially in the long term. When this article is written, the rate of the first virtual currency is not really doing its best.

Bitcoin price USD

amounts to around $6.5 thousand per each coin.

BTC rate reached its all-time record in December 2017. Back then nearly all experts, analysts, BTC holders, investors and just those who were interested in digital currencies were really shocked, when the

BTC price

was approximately $20 thousand per a coin. Those who managed to sell their Bitcoin assets at such a high price really made a lot of money, while those who had been rather sceptical about BTC since the very beginning were kicking themselves. Today, there are about 17,3 million BTC in circulation and the total trading volume amounts to $3,538,226,691.

Bitcoin price today

is almost four times lower than it used to be back in late 2017. However, still many crypto-enthusiasts, experts and opinion leaders are rather optimistic. They expect another rapid increase of the cryptocurrency market soon.

Ethereum price

ETH

rate is not doing its best, just like Bitcoin. At least that is what is happening on the market today.

Etherium price

varies and fluctuates from time to time which makes holders of this coin nervous.

Ethereum price today

is about $205 per each digital coin. World`s second cryptocurrency also has its own record - back in December 2017 the rate reached approximately $1,2 thousand per one ETH. This

Ether

rate increase was really difficult to predict. Today there are 102 million ETH in circulation and the daily trade volume is $1,224,203,671.

Today

ETH price

is around 6 times lower than it used to be in winter 2017. However, the platform itself is still very popular. Many experts believe that this is a key to the future success of the platform and the

cryptocurrency

.

Ethereum vs Bitcoin: Chart

If you do not know but want to learn how to predict the fluctuations of BTC, ETH and other cryptocurrencies, then you need to understand the basics of deep diagram analysis. We will not go deep into details and focus on easier things.

Bitcoin price chart

It is known that any centralized authority has no direct impact on Bitcoin. All management operations, as well as the issue of new coins is carried out in the network itself. The first cryptocurrency is an open resource, because it is developed publicly, has no managers and is not directly controlled by anyone.

Bitcoin chart

shows that the rate of Bitcoin has increased amazingly since the launch of the payment system and the cryptocurrency. This made traders and investors to consider it as an attractive investment opportunity and made it much more reasonable to purchase or exchange BTC for USD.

The highest

Bitcoin value

was registered in December 2017 when one digital coin was traded at the price of $20 thousand. That was something. However, today, in October 2018, BTC cannot overcome $7 thousand. Given that only less than a year has passed, many people worry that the rate is too unstable.

Ethereum price chart

Everyone can check the price fluctuations of all cryptocurrencies and digital tokens on their own. You should not have any special skills related to economics or analytics to do that. You can just use special services to monitor the situation on the cryptocurrency market. As usually, we recommend the most popular and convenient one -

CoinMarketCap

.

There is a detailed

Ethereum chart

there. It can help be aware and follow all cryptocurrency fluctuations. The charts will also help figure out when it is the best time to sell the digital currency or to buy it.

Almost a year ago the cryptocurrency broke its all time rate record. One ETH cost a bit less than $1,3 thousand. You can check it and monitor

ETH chart

. Today the rate is way less and amounts to just a bit more than $200 per each ETH.

Ethereum vs Bitcoin: Investment

Cryptocurrencies have a promising potential and that is why many investors consider these digital assets rather attractive especially in the long term. Today virtual cryptographically protected money is one of the most innovative approaches on the financial market and a number of people have already managed to make a fortune using them.

Bitcoin investment

Let's talk a little bit about how appealing is the most popular cryptocurrency for investors. Well, BTC is being adopted to the world's financial markets and the growing interest to this virtual asset may ensure that its rate increase.

Invest in Bitcoin

or not is up to every user. However, we will take a closer look at how one can do it. BTC was launched back in 2009 and at that time (as well as quite a long time after that) only a very few people really considered Bitcoin a good investment. Today it is different - even those who are not really interested in cryptocurrencies would probably be glad to own several coins.

Ethereum investment

The second cryptocurrency by market capitalization was initially launched in 2015 and, unlike Bitcoin, became rather popular right away. Many people believe that ETH is a very promising alternative to BTC.

The main problem of many different cryptocurrencies is that they actually depend on Bitcoin. BTC indeed has the best liquidity and that means users often have to exchange their coins for BTC first and then exchange BTC for the US dollar or other fiat money. ETH is different, however.

Invest in Ethereum

is considered a profitable investment by many experts, as they believe that this cryptocurrency will be demanded on the market. Since it has an unlimited emission, many users think that ETH mining will always be demanded.

So let's get back to how one can

invest in Bitcoin

and Ethereum.

Option 1: Speculation in cryptocurrency rate as a way of investment

The main thing here is to sell the cryptocurrency at a price that is significantly higher than the cost of your purchase. For example, in 2013 you bought one BTC at a price of $ 200 and sold it in December 2017, when the price of a currency almost exceeded $ 20 thousand for one coin. If you do some small mathematical calculations, then you will be surprised by the profit that you could get on the difference of one coin. Imagine that in 2013 you bought not one, but 10 coins.

Option 2: Mining

To mine these digital currencies you will need a high-performance equipment that you can either purchase or rent. These investments will help you get the coins and then hold them or trade. Always keep up with the latest rate to make a good deal.

Ethereum vs Bitcoin: Wallet

It is better to have a wallet to store your money. Cryptocurrency is also a kind of money, and it also should be stored in a special wallet. There are many different ETH and

BTC wallet

option and developers have created many different services for users to keep their cryptocurrency assets. Some of them operate online, while others are stored locally.

When you choose Bitcoin and

Ethereum wallet,

the most important thing is actually its security. You'd better spend some time checking this. You can also look through different reviews and comments from other users.

You basically need a cryptocurrency wallet to make operations with your virtual currencies. There are five main Ethereum and

Bitcoin wallet types

:

web;

desktop;

mobile;

hardware;

paper.

Users of such platforms and operating systems as Android and iOS, Windows, MacOS, and Linux are lucky because every single type of the wallet usually operates on them.

Online Bitcoin wallet,

as well as online ETH wallet actually stores cryptocurrency in the cloud, while hardware wallets do that locally on your device. There are also paper wallets, where all the information related to the private key is written down on the paper.