Bitcoin is to digital currency as SMS is to messaging, an essential first step but increasingly anachronistic. Ethereum, on the other hand, is WhatsApp, a more flexible alternative that is responsive to modern demands.
So says Fred Ehrsam, co-founder of Coinbase, who argues that Ethereum's friendlier scripting language, out-of-the-box developer tools and vibrant developer community make it the future of digital currency.
My theory has been that the scripting language in Bitcoin — the piece of every Bitcoin transaction that lets you run a little software program along with it — is too restrictive. Enter Ethereum. Ethereum has taken what was a four function calculator of a programming language in Bitcoin and turned it into a full fledged computer. We now stand only 9 months out from the beginning of the Ethereum network and the level of app development is already faster than Bitcoin’s. We are finally getting rapid iteration at the app layer.
