As most people know, Bitcoin is pretty much the face of the cryptocurrency market. However, since Bitcoin’s launch, many cryptocurrencies have emerged to challenge that notion. To make your investing easier, the following guide will tell you exactly how Waves measures up to Bitcoin.
History
Bitcoin
Bitcoin arrived on the scene as the first cryptocurrency in 2009. Its launch came following the release of a whitepaper via a mailing list under the name Satoshi Nakamoto. It was first used a year in 2010 when a programmer paid 10 000 BTC for two pizzas.
Despite Bitcoin being the first coin on the crypto market, there were indeed attempts to launch a similar concept prior to it being made publicly available.
Waves
The Waves blockchain was created in 2016 by an entrepreneur by the name of Sasha Ivanov. It was created in the same year in which Ivanov established Waves Platform AG, a Moscow-based company whose purpose is to drive the creation of a new blockchain network.
In April 2016, Waves raised $22 million in their initial coin offering. The blockchain was launched shortly after this, in Q3 of 2016.
What Are They, And Why Were They Created?
Bitcoin
Bitcoin is widely referred to as a decentralized currency, meaning that it doesn’t have central control and isn’t regulated by governments or banks. It uses peer-to-peer software and cryptography to function.
It was created as a way for people to send money over the internet during the global financial crisis between 2007 and 2009.
Waves
The Waves blockchain is a decentralized exchange and wallet. It uses what they describe as “secure blockchain technology,” and the blockchain network itself runs on a proof-of-stake consensus. The wallet aspect allows users to create their own tokens and trade digital assets.
It was created to function as a close competitor to Ethereum and even boasts similar features, such as smart contracts. Smart contracts are simply programs stored on a blockchain network that only run under certain conditions.
Price History
Bitcoin
Bitcoin is considered to be fairly volatile, which often surprises most since it was the first cryptocurrency on the scene. This volatility means that it sees a relative amount of fluctuations but is still more stable than many other coins in the cryptocurrency market. It was priced at $67.81 in 2013 and is now priced at $16,824.67 at the time of writing.
Its all-time high in terms of pricing was $69,044.77; this came in November of 2021.
Waves
At the time of writing, the current price of a wave coin is $2.15. It reached an all-time high during the bull market of 2017 when retail investors were given access to the digital asset. During this time, it was priced at $61.30. Its lowest price was in 2016, when it cost $0.130878 per coin.
Market Cap
Bitcoin
Bitcoin leads all other cryptocurrencies in terms of market cap and market cap dominance. It’s in the first position in terms of dominance and currently has a market cap of over $300 billion. When it launched, the currency’s market cap was at a mere $1.2 billion.
Waves
Waves has a market cap of slightly over $205 million. This means that it has a market cap dominance of 0.023% and is ranked in the 148th position in terms of market cap.
Daily Transactions
Bitcoin
Bitcoin, at the time of writing, experiences around 240 000 transactions a day. It experienced its peak in daily transactions in 2021, when daily transactions averaged around 400 000. This illustrates a reduction of just under 13 percent.
Waves
There isn’t much public data on how many daily transactions Waves experiences. However, in October 2018, Waves set a record by processing 6.1 million transactions on MainNet.
Block Size
Bitcoin
Bitcoin has a block size of a single megabyte, which can facilitate over 2000 transactions. In the case of Bitcoin, its block size is determined by the Bitcoin Core protocol.
Waves
Like Bitcoin, Waves also has a block size of 1 megabyte. However, it differs from Bitcoin in the sense that it has a latency, or block interval, of 1 minute. Bitcoin has a latency of 10 minutes.
Similarities
- Both have the same block size.
- Waves and Bitcoin can both be mined.
- Both offer smart contracts.
Differences
- Bitcoin has a latency of 10 minutes, whereas Waves has a latency of 1 minute.
- Waves’ total circulating supply is 100 000 000, whereas Bitcoin’s total circulating supply is 19,227,862.
- Bitcoin is ranked at the top in terms of market cap. Waves is ranked in 148th position.
Risks
Bitcoin
Bitcoin is said to have two major risks when it comes to investment, being volatility, regulation, and hacking.
The price of Bitcoin can easily be determined or manipulated by crypto whales, who can mass sell their holdings. Despite being considered fairly volatile, fluctuations are still a constant threat to investors.
Bitcoin isn’t widely available to trade in a lot of countries due to it being unregulated, which is part of Bitcoin’s objective. However, government pushback constantly makes this difficult. Lastly, Bitcoin users are still vulnerable to cybertheft, which has been occurring since the coin’s inception.
Waves
The price movements at the time of writing give Waves a low to average risk score. However, the biggest risk with Waves comes from Neutrino, the stablecoin that powers the Waves ecosystem.
In May of 2021, Neutrino lost its pairing to the U.S. dollar, resulting in the price dropping sharply. This means that Neutrino plays a huge role in determining the viability of an investment in Waves.
Where to Buy
Bitcoin
As we said, Bitcoin has been around for a lot longer than most digital currencies and can thus be found on a number of cryptocurrency exchanges. Here are some of them:
- Kraken
- Coinbase
- Binance
- CoinMama
- eToro
- Luno
- Robinhood
- PayPal
- Crypto.com
- Bisq
- KuCoin
- Pionex
Waves
Waves cryptocurrency has only been around since 2016, so it’s still somewhat finding its feet in the cryptocurrency market. However, you can still purchase it on most of the major crypto trading platforms:
Exchanging Bitcoin for Waves
Both Bitcoin and Waves coin can be exchanged for a fiat currency. Additionally, it’s relatively easy to exchange Bitcoin for Waves, and this can be done on multiple platforms. If you’re looking to trade these tokens, you can do so on platforms such as Swapzone.io, Changelly, HitBTC, and the actual Waves network.
Future Plans
Bitcoin
Bitcoin is down by more than 50 percent from its all-time high, and some experts are predicting that the price will fall even further. This is largely due to issues around utility and scalability.
Scalability is an issue that affects most crypto market currencies, and Bitcoin is no exception. Many people don’t invest in currencies such as Bitcoin as they don’t see its utility. In other words, it can’t be widely used as it can’t support fast transactions, particularly real-world ones.
The currency’s plans largely revolve around furthering its scalability and real-world utility.
Waves
According to crypto analysts, the average expected trading cost of Waves is likely to be $5.22. Other than that, not much has been said about the future plans other than what the decentralized exchange outlined in early 2021.
Waves announced a three-stage roadmap, Waves 2.0, that aims to improve liquidity, scalability, and interoperability. It’s said that these stages will be further divided into smaller, more achievable goals.
FAQs
What is Bitcoin Core?
Bitcoin is an open-source software that is used to connect to the Bitcoin network and run a node.
What are crypto whales?
Crypto whale is simply a term that’s used to describe an entity that holds cryptocurrency in large amounts. In the case of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto is said to be the largest holder, with an estimated 1.1 million BTC. There’s no data on the largest holder of Waves.
What’s the difference between total supply and max supply?
People often get total supply and max supply mixed up, but they are completely different. Total supply refers to the sum of the circulating supply and the coins that are in escrow. Whereas the max supply is the maximum amount of coins that will ever exist, the max supply typically can’t be changed.
What is cryptocurrency 2.0?
Much like “Ethereum 2.0,” cryptocurrency 2.0 refers to initiatives to broaden the usage of cryptocurrency while improving its function and overall utility.
How is the price of cryptocurrency determined?
Much like stocks, commodities, and securities, cryptocurrencies are tradeable assets. Their price is determined by how interested investors are in buying them, or the demand, in addition to how many are available for purchase, the supply. The relationship between supply and demand determines the price.
Sources:
https://time.com/nextadvisor/investing/cryptocurrency/future-of-cryptocurrency/
https://chainbulletin.com/waves-announces-three-stage-roadmap-towards-version-2
https://medium.datadriveninvestor.com/waves-risky-ethereum-competitor-4234fdff619a
https://docs.waves.tech/en/blockchain/waves-protocol/waves-ng-protocol
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