You've probably heard of Bitcoin but what about ether there's an arms race going on right now in the World of
Cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin and Ether are leading the pack Ether is a three year old digital currency bitcoins closest competitor and it's largely been flying under the radar despite growing at breakneck speed.
Investors have been super bullish on Bitcoin because it's nearly tripled in value so far this year but either it's up roughly 4000 percent year-to-date these rivals have a lot in common they're both open source digital currencies used to make somewhat anonymous transactions.
If they're even has digital coins just like Bitcoin they both also saw their share of big volume to lose the most recent when either virtually lost all its value in a single day in a June slash crash.
It went from three hundred ninety dollars to ten cents on one exchange before covering all of its losses but here's the critical difference while they're both powered by a type of technology called Blockchain.
A whole lot of people think Ethers technology is way better so what's watching think of it like the DNA of a digital currency it's an online ledger that reports every single transaction made since.
Cryptocurrency has no physical imprint blockchain allows money to be tracked all over the web so it can't be copied or
counterfeited.
Ethers blockchain is called Etherium and unlike bitcoins blockchain it features a key piece of technology called the smart contract it doesn't just track transactions it programs them.
We have a touch of this now with automated payments and deposits but imagine being able to have your
money invest spend and save all on its own you'd literally be putting your money to work for you smart contracts let you exchange not just money but property stock really anything without having to go through a lawyer notary or
some other service provider it cuts out the middleman entirely, that's why investors have taken notice and why many think Etherium is a stronger and potentially more lucrative technology than the one that underpins
Bitcoin.
It's like the ultimate vending machine you make a deposit of the cryptocurrency for the specific product you want and can't expect transaction or automated right down to the penalty you don't hold up your end
of the bargain.
So whereas bitcoin is all about payment technology the Etherium blockchain technology has other real-world applications ranging from gambling to banking that's why a big driver of the ether rally is its popularity among big
corporates.
Just take Barclays it's using Etherium smart contracts is a way to trade derivatives either way for all the attention that Bitcoin has been getting, it's clear to no longer alone in the cryptocurrency conversation.
Hey there thanks for checking out.