Unit 4 · Level 1 · The crypto map
Bitcoin vs Ethereum
Bitcoin and Ethereum top every chart, but they're playing different games. Bitcoin wants to be digital gold: scarce (capped at 21 million coins), simple, hard to change. Ethereum wants to be a programmable settlement layer: a global computer where code moves money. Comparing them on speed is like comparing a vault to a workshop.
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What you get asked
Bitcoin and Ethereum are often lumped together. What's the core design difference?
Bitcoin optimizes for being hard, scarce money. Ethereum optimizes for flexibility: running code. Different goals, different trade-offs.
A smart contract is often compared to a vending machine. Why?
Coin in, snack out, no human in the loop. A smart contract does the same with money: if the conditions are met, the code executes, for better or worse.
Match each piece of the map to what it really is
BTC is the asset; ETH is both an asset and the fuel that pays to run code on Ethereum.
Bitcoin's supply is capped at 21 ___ coins, and that scarcity is the whole point.
21 million, ever. No committee can print more. That hard cap is why people call it digital gold.
A new coin claims it's 'faster and cheaper than Bitcoin, a Bitcoin killer'. What's the catch?
Hundreds of 'Bitcoin killers' were faster and cheaper, and almost all faded. Being better than Bitcoin at being Bitcoin isn't the game; trust built over 15+ years is. 🐜
The rest of this unit
BTC, ETH, alts, stablecoins, CEX vs DEX: the whole territory.