With the rise of the use of cryptocurrencies, Ethereum and Bitcoin have gained a huge level of popularity in the recent times. Bitcoin was the first ever discovered cryptocurrency, which was followed by Ethereum after a gap of few years. Though lots of cryptocurrencies have been discovered in the recent period, but still these two cryptocurrencies have gained a wide level of importance and popularity [1]. These two cryptocurrencies are regarded as the largest and valuable mode of cryptocurrencies. The report focuses on important aspects that are in relation with Ethereum. The exchangeable and immutable cryptographic currencies have the capability to dominate the market of digital currencies. The various applications that are supported by Bitcoin are also considered within the next part of the report [2]. The similarities and differences between Bitcoin and Ethereum are also analyzed and discussed within the report. The report thus would conclude with a complete and brief summary based on the entire report.   

Various Aspects related to Ethereum

• Architecture– The architecture of Ethereum is able to provide a certain set of generalized products. These products have form the pillars or base of the Ethereum architecture. The architecture of Ethereum helps in the development of the Ethereum Virtual Machine [3]. The network of Ethereum is based on the public blockchain. This network is the foundation base of organizations and peer-to-peer applications that would be running within the same network. The computation within the architecture of Ethereum would be performed with a language on stack-based byte code. The processes of Ethereum is based on blockchain technology. The analogy of the blockchain technology would be based on a shared spreadsheet. This form of spreadsheet is able to contain the entire transactions of cryptocurrency from the initial stages. Whenever a newer transaction would be added, the nodes of the network would be able to verify the transaction with a complex algorithm [4]. After the process of verification is completed, the transaction would be added within the shared spreadsheet. The architecture of Ethereum possesses an embedded programming language. This feature within the architecture would be helpful for executing transactions such as derivative contracts or smart contracts.
• Features– The transactions within Ethereum are decentralized. This would mean that the inbuilt system would be controlled automatically. The transactions based on Ethereum would be stored on different computers and the processes are being run on a central server. Hence, the processes within Ethereum are never found to offline. The Ethereum cryptocurrency is highly trusted as they are based on complex mathematics and cryptographic signatures [5]. The information passed within the network is immutable. The ownership of the information could be proved by the rightful owner. Ethereum also provides a fast form of storing of data and thus transfer them within a few seconds. It is also able to retain the level of privacy, trust and decentralized form of fundamentals. The transactions performed by Ethereum are pseudonymous. The personal details of the sender of the transactions could be revealed only with the permission of the sender.
• Challenges – The capacity of the Ethereum is that they are able to perform 15 transactions in a second whereas Visa would process much more transactions such as 45,000/tps.  There are some challenges, which is faced by Ethereum. One of the prime challenge is based on the issue of scalability. With the huge level of population, the platform would not be able to sustain a larger number of users within their network [10]. The core challenges within Ethereum is that they would require the transactions to be processed by each of the single node within the network. The major challenge within Ethereum would be based on security within the transactions. Various groups of attacker discover newer ways to penetrate within the process of transactions. These form of cryptocurrencies are based on high level of business transactions. Ensuring the security within the transactional processes would be able to provide a better form of service experience to the users.

• Token Systems– A token within the bitcoin technology could be defined a specific amount of digital based resources, which could be controlled or could be used to get controlled with the help of another person. The users of bitcoin currency have felt the need to apply the token based economy. One of the application of bitcoin within token systems is based on security [7]. The crypto token that would be able to pass the Howey Test would be regarded as a security token. The token could be of a kind of encrypted data. These tokens would establish a contract based on investment. The applications provided by bitcoin within security token systems are based on bring the credibility. Traditional financial based transactions would be improved with the impact of security concerns within the transactions. These form of security tokens would be able to remove the basic need for middle persons. This would also help in reducing the fees to be paid to the middlemen. These security tokens would also be helpful for smart contracts as they would be able to reduce the level of complexity, paper based works and costs incurred within the company. With the help of security tokens, the traditional financial based institutions would involve a lot of middlemen, which would increase the timer taken for different forms of executions [8]. With the removal of these middlemen, the securities within the system would be able to execute the instructions in a faster manner. Due to high level of increased speeds, the security tokens would be able to gain a vast number of attractive investments.  
• Decentralized File Storage –Another application that is supported by Bitcoin within the decentralized form of file storage is that these form of file storages would allow the user to merge the unique devices within a common cloud based storage platform [6]. With the help of this platform, users would be able to store their files in a centralized storage, which would be cheaper. The owners of devices who would be able to store the files of other people get money from other users based on their level of contribution. In order to measure the level of contribution, the reliability of the storage capacity should be ensured firstly. Different forms of checks such as proof of retrieval, storage based proof that would be based on cryptography should be performed. These applications make use of DHT technology and addressing of contents [9]. The advantages of these form of applications are that these files would be stored on the cloud platform and would be available to the owner at any point of time. They have a higher level of throughput. Hence, the reliability of storing the files and thus retrieving them is a matter of high concern.

Differences between Ethereum and Bitcoin

The Bitcoin blockchain could be thought of as accounts based on databases that are able to store digital form of currency. The number of bitcoin are just limited to 21 million while Ethereum does not have any limit on hard caps but they have around 100 million ethers. The network of Ethereum could be defined as a more sophisticated form of construction that would be capable of storing the codes of computer, applications that could be used by the CPU in order to power the number of transactions [11]. Each of the blocks within bitcoin would be limited to a file size of 1 MB whereas in Ethereum the block would be capped by an element of gas.

Similarities between Ethereum and Bitcoin

Although there are some differences between these two forms of cryptocurrencies, yet there are some core group of similarities. These cryptocurrencies are mainly based on distributed ledgers, which would depend on secure form of cryptographic function. Both of these cryptocurrencies would attract a substantial amount of interest from a wide number of users and financial based institutions. This interest would be based on each of the potentials of the currencies along with gains of prices [12].  

Conclusion

Based on the above discussion, it could be concluded that Ethereum and Bitcoin are the most prominent cryptocurrencies that are nearly dominating the market of cryptocurrencies. Though these two forms of currencies have major level of similar aspects, yet they are different in some aspects in relation to usage and future use within the digital world. This report focuses on the architecture, features and challenges faced by Ethereum and also the applications of Bitcoin in the domain of token systems and decentralized file based storage. Though the future of Ethereum would be uncertain, there would be an attractive opportunity for investment. Within the form of cryptocurrency for capturing potential forms of gains within the technology. The Bitcoin cryptocurrency has a lots of sector for improvement and has huge potentials for value and growth. The last part of the report concludes with the focus on the major form of similarities and differences within the market of cryptocurrency. This would be helpful for understanding the lacks within the cryptocurrencies and thus provides insights for better conclusions.

References

[1] Pilkington, Marc. “11 Blockchain technology: principles and applications.” Research handbook on digital transformations(2016): 225.

[2] Corbet, Shaen, Brian Lucey, and Larisa Yarovaya. “Datestamping the Bitcoin and Ethereum bubbles.” Finance Research Letters (2017).

[3] Hirai, Yoichi. “Defining the ethereum virtual machine for interactive theorem provers.” In International Conference on Financial Cryptography and Data Security, pp. 520-535. Springer, Cham, 2017.

[4] Zheng, Zibin, Shaoan Xie, Hongning Dai, Xiangping Chen, and Huaimin Wang. “An overview of blockchain technology: Architecture, consensus, and future trends.” In Big Data (BigData Congress), 2017 IEEE International Congress on, pp. 557-564. IEEE, 2017.

[5] Bogner, Andreas. “Seeing is understanding: anomaly detection in blockchains with visualized features.” In Proceedings of the 2017 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing and Proceedings of the 2017 ACM International Symposium on Wearable Computers, pp. 5-8. ACM, 2017.

[6] Buterin, Vitalik. “A next-generation smart contract and decentralized application platform.” white paper (2014).

[7] Glaser, Florian, and Luis Bezzenberger. “Beyond cryptocurrencies-a taxonomy of decentralized consensus systems.” (2015).

[8] Ntuli, Nonhlanhla, and Adnan M. Abu-Mahfouz. “A simple security architecture for smart water management system.” (2016).

[9] Raval, Siraj. Decentralized Applications: Harnessing Bitcoin’s Blockchain Technology. ” O’Reilly Media, Inc.”, 2016.

[10] Tasca, Paolo, and Sebastian Widmann. “The challenges faced by blockchain technologies—Part 2.” Journal of Digital Banking 2, no. 3 (2018): 259-281.

[11] Pilkington, Marc. “11 Blockchain technology: principles and applications.” Research handbook on digital transformations(2016): 225.

[12] Osterrieder, Joerg, Julian Lorenz, and Martin Strika. “Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies-not for the faint-hearted.” (2016).

With the rise of the use of cryptocurrencies, Ethereum and Bitcoin have gained a huge level of popularity in the recent times. Bitcoin was the first ever discovered cryptocurrency, which was followed by Ethereum after a gap of few years. Though lots of cryptocurrencies have been discovered in the recent period, but still these two cryptocurrencies have gained a wide level of importance and popularity [1]. These two cryptocurrencies are regarded as the largest and valuable mode of cryptocurrencies. The report focuses on important aspects that are in relation with Ethereum. The exchangeable and immutable cryptographic currencies have the capability to dominate the market of digital currencies. The various applications that are supported by Bitcoin are also considered within the next part of the report [2]. The similarities and differences between Bitcoin and Ethereum are also analyzed and discussed within the report. The report thus would conclude with a complete and brief summary based on the entire report.   

Various Aspects related to Ethereum

• Architecture– The architecture of Ethereum is able to provide a certain set of generalized products. These products have form the pillars or base of the Ethereum architecture. The architecture of Ethereum helps in the development of the Ethereum Virtual Machine [3]. The network of Ethereum is based on the public blockchain. This network is the foundation base of organizations and peer-to-peer applications that would be running within the same network. The computation within the architecture of Ethereum would be performed with a language on stack-based byte code. The processes of Ethereum is based on blockchain technology. The analogy of the blockchain technology would be based on a shared spreadsheet. This form of spreadsheet is able to contain the entire transactions of cryptocurrency from the initial stages. Whenever a newer transaction would be added, the nodes of the network would be able to verify the transaction with a complex algorithm [4]. After the process of verification is completed, the transaction would be added within the shared spreadsheet. The architecture of Ethereum possesses an embedded programming language. This feature within the architecture would be helpful for executing transactions such as derivative contracts or smart contracts.
• Features– The transactions within Ethereum are decentralized. This would mean that the inbuilt system would be controlled automatically. The transactions based on Ethereum would be stored on different computers and the processes are being run on a central server. Hence, the processes within Ethereum are never found to offline. The Ethereum cryptocurrency is highly trusted as they are based on complex mathematics and cryptographic signatures [5]. The information passed within the network is immutable. The ownership of the information could be proved by the rightful owner. Ethereum also provides a fast form of storing of data and thus transfer them within a few seconds. It is also able to retain the level of privacy, trust and decentralized form of fundamentals. The transactions performed by Ethereum are pseudonymous. The personal details of the sender of the transactions could be revealed only with the permission of the sender.
• Challenges – The capacity of the Ethereum is that they are able to perform 15 transactions in a second whereas Visa would process much more transactions such as 45,000/tps.  There are some challenges, which is faced by Ethereum. One of the prime challenge is based on the issue of scalability. With the huge level of population, the platform would not be able to sustain a larger number of users within their network [10]. The core challenges within Ethereum is that they would require the transactions to be processed by each of the single node within the network. The major challenge within Ethereum would be based on security within the transactions. Various groups of attacker discover newer ways to penetrate within the process of transactions. These form of cryptocurrencies are based on high level of business transactions. Ensuring the security within the transactional processes would be able to provide a better form of service experience to the users.

• Token Systems– A token within the bitcoin technology could be defined a specific amount of digital based resources, which could be controlled or could be used to get controlled with the help of another person. The users of bitcoin currency have felt the need to apply the token based economy. One of the application of bitcoin within token systems is based on security [7]. The crypto token that would be able to pass the Howey Test would be regarded as a security token. The token could be of a kind of encrypted data. These tokens would establish a contract based on investment. The applications provided by bitcoin within security token systems are based on bring the credibility. Traditional financial based transactions would be improved with the impact of security concerns within the transactions. These form of security tokens would be able to remove the basic need for middle persons. This would also help in reducing the fees to be paid to the middlemen. These security tokens would also be helpful for smart contracts as they would be able to reduce the level of complexity, paper based works and costs incurred within the company. With the help of security tokens, the traditional financial based institutions would involve a lot of middlemen, which would increase the timer taken for different forms of executions [8]. With the removal of these middlemen, the securities within the system would be able to execute the instructions in a faster manner. Due to high level of increased speeds, the security tokens would be able to gain a vast number of attractive investments.  
• Decentralized File Storage –Another application that is supported by Bitcoin within the decentralized form of file storage is that these form of file storages would allow the user to merge the unique devices within a common cloud based storage platform [6]. With the help of this platform, users would be able to store their files in a centralized storage, which would be cheaper. The owners of devices who would be able to store the files of other people get money from other users based on their level of contribution. In order to measure the level of contribution, the reliability of the storage capacity should be ensured firstly. Different forms of checks such as proof of retrieval, storage based proof that would be based on cryptography should be performed. These applications make use of DHT technology and addressing of contents [9]. The advantages of these form of applications are that these files would be stored on the cloud platform and would be available to the owner at any point of time. They have a higher level of throughput. Hence, the reliability of storing the files and thus retrieving them is a matter of high concern.

Differences between Ethereum and Bitcoin

The Bitcoin blockchain could be thought of as accounts based on databases that are able to store digital form of currency. The number of bitcoin are just limited to 21 million while Ethereum does not have any limit on hard caps but they have around 100 million ethers. The network of Ethereum could be defined as a more sophisticated form of construction that would be capable of storing the codes of computer, applications that could be used by the CPU in order to power the number of transactions [11]. Each of the blocks within bitcoin would be limited to a file size of 1 MB whereas in Ethereum the block would be capped by an element of gas.

Similarities between Ethereum and Bitcoin

Although there are some differences between these two forms of cryptocurrencies, yet there are some core group of similarities. These cryptocurrencies are mainly based on distributed ledgers, which would depend on secure form of cryptographic function. Both of these cryptocurrencies would attract a substantial amount of interest from a wide number of users and financial based institutions. This interest would be based on each of the potentials of the currencies along with gains of prices [12].  

Conclusion

Based on the above discussion, it could be concluded that Ethereum and Bitcoin are the most prominent cryptocurrencies that are nearly dominating the market of cryptocurrencies. Though these two forms of currencies have major level of similar aspects, yet they are different in some aspects in relation to usage and future use within the digital world. This report focuses on the architecture, features and challenges faced by Ethereum and also the applications of Bitcoin in the domain of token systems and decentralized file based storage. Though the future of Ethereum would be uncertain, there would be an attractive opportunity for investment. Within the form of cryptocurrency for capturing potential forms of gains within the technology. The Bitcoin cryptocurrency has a lots of sector for improvement and has huge potentials for value and growth. The last part of the report concludes with the focus on the major form of similarities and differences within the market of cryptocurrency. This would be helpful for understanding the lacks within the cryptocurrencies and thus provides insights for better conclusions.

References

[1] Pilkington, Marc. “11 Blockchain technology: principles and applications.” Research handbook on digital transformations(2016): 225.

[2] Corbet, Shaen, Brian Lucey, and Larisa Yarovaya. “Datestamping the Bitcoin and Ethereum bubbles.” Finance Research Letters (2017).

[3] Hirai, Yoichi. “Defining the ethereum virtual machine for interactive theorem provers.” In International Conference on Financial Cryptography and Data Security, pp. 520-535. Springer, Cham, 2017.

[4] Zheng, Zibin, Shaoan Xie, Hongning Dai, Xiangping Chen, and Huaimin Wang. “An overview of blockchain technology: Architecture, consensus, and future trends.” In Big Data (BigData Congress), 2017 IEEE International Congress on, pp. 557-564. IEEE, 2017.

[5] Bogner, Andreas. “Seeing is understanding: anomaly detection in blockchains with visualized features.” In Proceedings of the 2017 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing and Proceedings of the 2017 ACM International Symposium on Wearable Computers, pp. 5-8. ACM, 2017.

[6] Buterin, Vitalik. “A next-generation smart contract and decentralized application platform.” white paper (2014).

[7] Glaser, Florian, and Luis Bezzenberger. “Beyond cryptocurrencies-a taxonomy of decentralized consensus systems.” (2015).

[8] Ntuli, Nonhlanhla, and Adnan M. Abu-Mahfouz. “A simple security architecture for smart water management system.” (2016).

[9] Raval, Siraj. Decentralized Applications: Harnessing Bitcoin’s Blockchain Technology. ” O’Reilly Media, Inc.”, 2016.

[10] Tasca, Paolo, and Sebastian Widmann. “The challenges faced by blockchain technologies—Part 2.” Journal of Digital Banking 2, no. 3 (2018): 259-281.

[11] Pilkington, Marc. “11 Blockchain technology: principles and applications.” Research handbook on digital transformations(2016): 225.

[12] Osterrieder, Joerg, Julian Lorenz, and Martin Strika. “Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies-not for the faint-hearted.” (2016).