Ethereum differs from Bitcoin in 7 main ways:

1. In Ethereum the block time is set to 14 to 15 seconds in comparison to Bitcoins that takes
10 minutes. This allows for faster transaction times in Ethereum as it uses the Ghost
protocol.

2. Ethereum has a slightly different economic model than Bitcoin Bitcoin block
rewards halve every 4 years whilst Ethereum releases the same amount of Ether each year
ad infinitum.

3. Ethereum has a distinct method for costing transactions depending on their

computational complexity, bandwidth use and storage needs. Bitcoin transactions compete
equally with each other. This is called Gas in Ethereum and is limited per block whilst in
Bitcoin, it is limited by the block size.

4. Ethereum has its own Turing complete internal code... a Turing-complete code means
that given enough computing power and enough time... anything can be calculated. With
Bitcoin, there is not this form of flexibility.

5. Ethereum was crowd funded whilst Bitcoin was released and early miners own most of
the coins that will ever be mined. With Ethereum 50% of the coins will be owned by miners
in year five.

6. Ethereum discourages centralised pool mining through its Ghost protocol rewarding stale
blocks. There is no advantage to being in a pool in terms of block propagation.

7. Ethereum uses a memory hard hashing algorithm called Ethash that mitigates against the
use of ASICS and encourages decentralised mining by individuals using their GPUs.

https://www.cryptocompare.com/coins/guides/why-is-ethereum-different-to-bitcoin/

The first factor concerning Ethereum is that it's not simply a digital currency. it's a
blockchain-based platform with several aspects. It features smart contracts, the Ethereum
Virtual Machine (EVM) and it uses its currency known as ether for peer-to-peer contracts.
Ethereums smart contracts use blockchain stored applications for contract negotiation and
facilitation. The good thing about these contracts is that the blockchain provides
a decentralized way to verify and enforce them. The decentralized aspect makes
it unbelievably troublesome for fraud or censorship. Ethereums smart contracts aim to
provide greater security than ancient contracts and bring down the associated costs.
The smart contract applications are powered by ether, Ethereums blockchain primarily
based cryptocurrency. Ether, in addition to alternative crypto-assets, are held within
the Ethereum wallet, that permits you to create and use smart contracts. The system has
been represented by the new york Times as..
a single shared computer that is run by the network of users and on which resources are
parceled out and paid for by ether.

The Finer Details: Differences Between Ethereum and Bitcoin

There are several smaller aspects that dissent between the two blockchain-based projects.
Bitcoins average block time is about ten minutes, whereas Ethereums aims to
be twelve seconds. This quick time is enabled by Ethereums GHOST protocol.
A quicker block time implies that confirmations are faster. However, there are a lot
of unparented blocks.

Another key distinction between them is their financial fund. More than two-thirds of
all available bitcoin have already been mined, with the bulk progressing to early miners.
Ethereum raised its launch capital with a presale and only about half its coins will have
been mined by its fifth year of existence.

The reward for mining Bitcoin halves regarding every four years and it's presently valued
at 12.5 bitcoins. Ethereum rewards miners supported on its proof-of-work rule known
as Ethash, with five ether given for every block. Ethash is a memory hard hashing rule, which
inspires decentralized mining by individuals, instead of the use of a lot of centralized
ASICs as with Bitcoin.
Bitcoin and Ethereum additionally value their transactions in numerous ways. In
Ethereum, it's referred to as Gas, and also the costing of transactions depends on their
storage needs, complexity and bandwidth usage. In Bitcoin, the
transactions are restricted by the block size and they compete equally with one another.

Ethereum features its own turing complete internal code, which implies that anything will
be calculated with enough computing power and enough time. Bitcoin does not have this
capability. While there are definitely advantages to the Turing-complete,
its complexness additionally brings security complications, that contributed to the DAO
attack in June.

Ethereum and Bitcoin: Two Very Different Beasts

While several can compare the cryptocurrency side of each Ethereum and Bitcoin, the fact is
that they're immensely different projects and have different intentions. Bitcoin has emerged
as a comparatively stable digital currency, whereas Ethereum aims to encompass more, with
ether simply a component of its smart contract applications.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ameer-rosic-/ethereum-vs-bitcoin-
whats_b_13735404.html

The value token of the Ethereum blockchain is named ether. It is listed under the diminutive
ETH and traded on cryptocurrency exchanges. It is additionally accustomed to pay
for transaction fees and computational services on the Ethereum network.

Tokens are often volatile per circumstances, like ether's plunge from $21.50 to $8 when The
DAO was hacked on June17, 2016.

Ethereum Virtual Machine

The Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) is the runtime environment for smart contracts in
Ethereum. The formal definition of the EVM is laid out in the Ethereum Yellow Paper by
Gavin Wood.It's sandboxed and additionally fully isolated from the network, filesystem
or other processes of the host computing system. Each Ethereum node within the network
runs an EVM implementation and executes identical instructions. Ethereum Virtual
Machines have been implemented in C++, Go, Haskell, Java, Python, Ruby, Rust, and
WebAssembly (currently under development).

Over the past few years, several have tried to challenge Bitcoins leadership within
the cryptocurrency market, however none has come close, until Ethereum entered the
scene. On one hand, Bitcoin, as the first mover, got to set the path of rapid growth, and has
been stabilizing its volatility and price over time. Ether, the internal network currency of
Ethereum, has skilled a surge in popularity in contrast to any other coin within
the cryptocurrency market; Ethereum isn't simply another blockchain technology, it
has found an entire new application for cryptocurrency.

Another exciting innovation is Ethereum, that uses similar technology to permit for the
writing of smart contracts. Such a contract could, for instance, make payment conditional
on an observable action or quality of a decent or service sold, allow parents to
provide their children pocket money whereas at a similar time limiting what
their childrencould spend it on, etc. The evolution is in progress, and
will undoubtedly bring several spectacular ups and downs27, and will be an exciting area to
follow in the future.