Bitcoin vs Ether: How Ethereum pushes crypto beyond currency

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Bitcoin is not just the best-known cryptocurrency but also the oldest. Six years ago, Bitcoin dominated the crypto market with 81% share, but that has fallen to 41%. At $803 billion, Bitcoin is still the most valued token followed by the fast-emerging Ether — the currency of Ethereum platform — at $389 billion. What has driven Ether’s popularity? And where is it headed? Aseem Gujar & Partha Sinha find out… Bitcoin may be synonymous with crypto as it was designed as an independent virtual currency that could also be a hedge against inflation. To facilitate Bitcoin transactions, blockchain — distributed ledger technology — was developed by its anonymous creators in 2008. A teen, who was introduced to crypto by his father in 2011, realised that restricting blockchain to financial transactions was Bitcoin’s shortcoming and went on to conceptualise a new platform called Ethereum in 2014.

Did you Know?

DeFi is enabling developers to create new financial products like decentralised banking, decentralised money markets and decentralised asset management firms

Computer programmer Vitalik Buterin conceived Ethereum that utilises blockchain for building applications that could enable secure property transactions or timely royalty payments to artists.Utilising BlockchainBoth Bitcoin and Ethereum are decentralised, meaning that they are not issued or regulated by a central bank or other authorities. However, Ethereum, unlike Bitcoin, is helping crypto move beyond currency. For example, using some code on Ethereum, one can potentially pay crop insurance to a farmer based on drought data or even offer artists royalties every time a copy of their work is