It can be confusing to decide on which cryptocurrency best suits you, depending on what you wish to do.
Many times, you’ll need to consider a few options and choose from them. In this guide, we will compare Bitcoin and Chainlink, which are among the top cryptocurrencies. If you’re reading this article, you may already be considering choosing between these two.
Whether it is for investment or any other use, we will help you to choose the right cryptocurrency between these two. We will explore their differences and also pay attention to their strengths and weaknesses.
By the time you’re done reading the guide, you’ll be able to make a choice easily on which one to use, so let’s get started.
What Is Bitcoin (BTC)?
Bitcoin is the biggest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, and also the most popular one, owing to the fact that it was the first one to be created. Its initial purpose was to serve as the world’s first peer-to-peer electronic cash.
However, the Bitcoin network started getting congested and transactions became slow and expensive, causing its popularity for payments to diminish. Till today, the Bitcoin network remains slow, and the fees relatively high because of the lack of scalability.
This is why many alternatives for payments have emerged over the years, with more scalable, faster, and cheaper networks.
The Bitcoin network uses the proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism to verify transactions and keep the network secure. Miners use special computers to solve tough mathematical problems, which in turn leads to being rewarded with new BTC as incentive.
There are only 21 million coins on the Bitcoin network, out of which close to 20 million have already been mined. Because of the small supply, Bitcoin is considered a scarce asset in the same class as gold, and is commonly referred to as digital gold.
Investors therefore now use it mainly as an investment asset, a hedge against inflation, and a store of value. This is a deviation from the network’s initial purpose, but investors are happy with using it this way.
What Is Chainlink (LINK)?
Chainlink is an altcoin, i.e an alternative to Bitcoin. It is one of the scalable, faster, and cheaper networks for transactions. However, its primary purpose isn’t to serve as peer-to-peer electronic cash, even though you can use it to send and receive value.
According to the team, Chainlink is a “blockchain abstraction layer that enables universally connected smart contracts.” it enables blockchains to securely interact with external data feeds, events, and payment methods through a decentralized oracle network.
Through these interactions, the network provides the critical off-chain information needed by complex smart contracts to become the dominant form of digital agreement.
The network is powered by a large open-source community of data providers, node operators, smart contract developers, researchers, security auditors and more. Chainlink ensures that decentralized participation is guaranteed for all node operators and users looking to contribute to the network.
The network uses a unique consensus mechanism called Off-Chain Reporting, which enables it to reach a consensus on external data and then place the data back on-chain in a smart contract (Data Feed) for people requesting information.
The native token for the network is LINK, an ERC20 token, since Chainlink runs on the Ethereum network. The token is used to pay node operators for retrieving data for smart contracts and also for deposits placed by node operators as required by contract creators.
LINK has a total supply of 1 billion tokens, but there are currently just over 600 million in circulation, all pre-mined.
Which Is Better?
If you’re looking for a cryptocurrency to invest in, Bitcoin is the perfect choice. However, LINK has also been a viable crypto investment over the years.
LINK is also perfect for transferring value even though that isn’t its primary purpose, because it is faster and cheaper than Bitcoin.
