#BTCvsETH Launch Year 2009 2015
Purpose Digital Gold (store of value, payment system) Smart Contracts, DeFi, NFTs, DApps
Market Cap (July 2025) ~$1.55 Trillion ~$640 Billion
Current Price (approx.) ~$75,000 ~$5,300
Consensus Mechanism Proof of Work (PoW) Proof of Stake (PoS, since The Merge 2022)
Block Time ~10 minutes ~12 seconds
Transaction Speed ~7 TPS (Lightning Network boosts speed) ~30 TPS (Layer 2s like Arbitrum, Optimism boost to 1,000+ TPS)
Supply Limit 21 million (hard capped) No fixed limit (but deflationary after EIP-1559 burning ETH)
Primary Use Case Store of value, hedge against inflation Ecosystem for decentralized applications & tokenized assets
Volatility Lower (seen as more stable, “digital gold”) Higher (but more utility-driven growth potential)
Institutional Adoption ETFs approved in the U.S., heavy institutional interest ETH ETFs just approved in mid-2025, growing institutional interest
