Learn / Capstone
Bitcoin and Ethereum side by side
Both tracks · 40 min
The capstone ties both tracks together: compare the two networks, build your own timeline, and take a ten-question final quiz.
What you will learn
- Compare Bitcoin and Ethereum on what they were built to do.
- Spot the patterns that repeat across both stories.
- Put ten events in order and say what each one changed.
Lessons in this module
- The comparison: go through the table below, then ask which differences come from what each network was built to do.
- Patterns across both stories: hacks and failures happened at companies and in code, not in the basic idea; splits happened when communities disagreed; prices moved sharply around big news.
- Your timeline project: pick ten events from the two tracks, five from each if you can. For each, write the date, one sentence on what happened and one on what it changed.
Side by side
| Bitcoin | Ethereum | |
|---|---|---|
| Launched | January 2009 | July 2015 |
| Created by | A pseudonym, Satoshi Nakamoto | A group of co-founders, best known is Vitalik Buterin |
| Main idea | Digital money without a bank | A blockchain that can run programs |
| How blocks are agreed | Proof of work (mining) | Proof of stake (since September 2022) |
| Supply | Capped at 21 million | No fixed cap |
| Big upgrades | SegWit, Taproot | The Merge, Dencun, Pectra, Fusaka |
| Biggest early scare | Mt. Gox, 2014 | The DAO, 2016 |
Patterns across both stories
Hacks and failures happened at companies and in code, not in the basic idea. Splits happened when communities disagreed. Prices rose and fell hard around big news, and rarely in a straight line.
Key terms: proof of work, proof of stake, halving, smart contract, fork, layer 2. Open the glossary
Final quiz
10 questions. Tap an answer to see if you are right and why.
1. What problem was Bitcoin created to solve?
Bitcoin let people send digital money directly, with no middleman and no coin spent twice.
2. What is the genesis block?
It started the chain.
3. What does a halving do?
New coins then arrive more slowly, up to the 21 million cap.
4. What did the Mt. Gox collapse teach?
Hence: not your keys, not your coins.
5. What is a smart contract?
It does what its code says, which is its strength and its risk.
6. What happened to The DAO in 2016?
The community split over whether to rewrite the chain.
7. What changed in Ethereum’s Merge?
The Merge, on 15 September 2022, cut energy use sharply.
8. What is a layer 2 network?
It posts summaries back to the main chain for safety.
9. Why is an all-time high not a guide to the next price?
Nobody can promise which way a price will move.
10. Which is a red flag for a new token offer?
Promises of guaranteed returns and urgency are classic warning signs.
Do it yourself
Build your one-page timeline and finish it with one line: One thing I would still like to understand better is… Then pick one of the sites listed on the Sources page and see if it answers that question.
Not financial advice. This lesson is history and education only. Prices are rounded and shown only to explain how big the swings were.