Will Ethereum overtake Bitcoin?

Ethereum, like bitcoin is certainly one of the most powerful cryptocurrencies in the world today and it is a distributed public blockchain network but with some dissimilar characteristics. In order to determine how valuable a cryptocurrency like ethereum is, you first need to establish its purpose and what it will be used for.

Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer electronic cash system that has the capabilities to allow bitcoin payments across its blockchain network, and the great thing about utilising the power of blockchain technology is its decentralised nature. To have something that is decentralised means that it is not stored in one central location but to be stored in many different locations at once. The opposite to having something stored in a decentralised location, is to have it stored in a centralised location like in a data centre for example.

Not only is it a blockchain based system but it is a system that exists between all permitted parties so there's no need to pay intermediaries to process expensive transactions, not mention it would save you a lot of time.

Ethereum on the hand was established to help facilitate what are known as "smart contracts". These smart contracts are there to help a user exchange a number of different things, such as money, property, shares or anything that has a perceived monetary value.

The ethereum cryptocurrency has more of a professional use to it with the integration of smart contracts, rather than it simply being a method of conducting transactions over a peer-to-peer payment network like bitcoin. With any luck in the near future, ethereum will be able to revolutionise the healthcare sector as well as many other areas.

Ethereum technology will be able to store patient records on its own blockchain, allowing them to be accessed from anywhere in the world by medical professionals. Ethereum's blockchain will also keep patient records safe and secure on a decentralised network, meaning that these sensitive records can easily be verifiable and impossible for anyone to steal or corrupt.

Given the amount of potential from ethereum, is there a chance that it will overtake the current market leader bitcoin and become even more profitable and powerful? There is every possibility that the ethereum cryptocurrency could become more powerful because of its ability to be used in so many different areas and sectors.

The healthcare sector was just one of the many different areas that ethereum can be used. Where bitcoin is used as a payment network, there aren't many other uses for the cryptocurrency, but where the real value will be derived from is how many areas ethereum can be integrated into and used.

In my opinion, ethereum will overtake bitcoin within a few years becoming the most popular cryptocurrency and it might even have the capabilities to completely take away all of bitcoins power altogether. A cryptocurrency that has real value is one that will stick around for the foreseeable future, rather than one that is considered a bubble.