Topic: How Is Bitcoin Blockchain Different From Altcoin Blockchains? (Read 290 times)

I think its more correct to say that block chain is the digital transaction ledger where all transaction appear transparent.
Bitcoin is the digital currency which this digital ledger support.

Is that view okay?

You can use the link below to see the total hashrate of different altcoins.
https://whattomine.com/calculators

I don't know whether we can have a site that has all stats on total hashrates of each cryptocurrency network. But even without such a site, I believe that the total hashrates on bitcoin network makes it totally different from any other cryptocurrency (altcoins). It is the fact that altcoins might never pass through to beat bitcoin. In the crazy years of 2017 and 2018, people talked about the flippening of Ethereum or Ripple that have never happened and even in such period, I doubt that their networks' total hashrates were higher than bitcoin network's hashrates.

Great correction.
You seems to have a robust knowledge on bitcoin technological components. Do you have a resource or a material that better explain the above components you highlighted?

If yes, please share with the platform. Thanks

Blockchain is not an engine, it's just a data structure, and it's really wrong to think that it's some sort of a platform or the most important part of cryptocurrency. Because other parts are just as important, there wouldn't be crypto without consensus algorithm like proof-of-work, there wouldn't be crypto without modern cryptography, there wouldn't be crypto without peer-to-peer network protocol and so on. Blockchain is just a part of something greater.

Lol, good question from someone who actually wants to learn, blockchain is the main engine that coins run on, Bitcoin has its own, Ethereum has its own, Seele has its own, even the new relictum pro is planning on build it's own blockchain that is more faster than older  projects

There are several algorithms used in cryptocurrency, Bitcoin uses Proof of work, which has a high level of security. It protects it's users and offers complete decentralization.
Altcoin platforms uses several other algorithms to run their chain which spun off from that of bitcoin. It doesn't have to be an improvement to the Bitcoin algorithm simply cause it came after.
Different algorithms have different features; some prioritize security, others anonymity and some others scalability.

From what I have understood, Bitcoin Blockchain and altcoin blockchain are just the same concepts but on Altcoins there are some added features, like scalability, smart contracts and so much other stuff that is being added just to improve its performance. Some coins undergo some forks to fix their issues. Now, What do you think is much better? Bitcoin is really good and it is the best, but technically some altcoins might be better than bitcoin.

Luckily Bitcoin's supply is not centrally issued, otherwise cryptocurrencies probably would have never taken off they way they did.

I'm not sure what you mean by centrally issued currencies being potentially more effective. Many of these tokens re-introduce counterparty risk. For example if the USDT issuer gets bust, all USDT tokens become worthless -- except for speculators that may buy up tokens for pennies on the dollar, but even that value would only be based on the hopes of the USDT issuer coming back.

A server-client architecture is pretty much by definition centralized. AFAIK there's no alt coin that uses a centralized server in the classical sense, but there are some that use rather centralized approaches, e.g. IOTA uses a centralized coordinator which they plan on getting rid of further down the road (maybe they already did, I don't follow alts that closely).

Also note that centralization is not restricted to the network architecture. Another aspect that can be centralized is the issuance of currency, e.g. USDT which is issued by a centralized authority while running on decentralized blockchains.

in order for an altcoin to be truly decentralized anybody must be able to run the full verifying node of the coin in an easy way. and users must never rely on any kind of super server, centralized data centers,... or anything like that for the coin to be truly decentralized.
i don't know of any 100% centralized altcoin but a lot of them have traces of centralization. for example there are some altcoins that rely on "master nodes" (which may be called different names such as "witness nodes" or things like that) in some cases a regular user is not even allowed to run such nodes so they have no control over anything. if that master node some day decides to ban their coins (whether because they turned malicious or some government put pressure on them) the user will not be able to spend their own money anymore.
another example that comes to mind is a copy of bitcoin called bcash (BCH), majority of mining power of this altcoin is controlled by a centralized company. last year there was some protocol changes and an individual miner (belonging to the minority) took advantage and mined a block that contained valid transactions with the new protocol change. long story short the centralized mining cartel reversed that block with a 51% attack because they didn't like it!

This is one of my favorite technical explanations on this thread so far. The bitcoin coin owners are decentralized same with the miners.
You mean a server makes a platform to be centralised? Are there altcoins that use servers which make their digital currencies centralised?

it's a little hard to explain but i'll try. cryptography comes in mostly in two parts in bitcoin: the proof of work (hash algorithm) and asymmetric or public key cryptography. decentralization works partly with you creating and controlling your own keys and handling your own money without needing a third party using asymmetric cryptography, and partly with the entire network being peer to peer so there is no "server", no "centralized authority" to decide which transactions to accept and which to censor. it is only peers who enforce all the rules as a very large community of individuals. the miners as another part of this network are also decentralized as they are also individuals and are spread around the globe, they are all competing to find the same solution (step 3 above) using that hash algorithm.

considering that you can only create tokens on another platform i don't think we can even call these two "blockchain development languages" because you aren't developing blockchain you are just writing contracts.
additionally it is just hyped up because of the ICO craze that we had a couple of years ago with all the pumps that happened.

The short answer is security (see: hashrate, specifically % of all sha256 hashrate).

I believe the concept of cryptocurrency or Bitcoin is decentralization which will be possibly when it function in a transparent manner.

So, if some altcoins are trying to address privacy in this regards that shows that they are more centralised and can be influenced.

Most problems focus on scalability, low fees, and privacy.

 - Scalability & low fees: All altcoins attack Bitcoin in this respect, they have nothing to provide except low fees and short confirmation times, so you find that all currencies claim to be the best in that. Litecoin, BitcoinCash, BitcoinSV^*,....etc.

 - privacy: We all know that Bitcoin transactions can be traced, so some currencies try to make this impossible.

In short, if you examine the currencies carefully, you will find 5 or 8 models that are unique and the rest are duplicates.

* https://www.investopedia.com/tech/history-bitcoin-hard-forks/

Thanks for revealing that some altcoin exist to solve the deficiencies of bitcoin. Being that bitcoin is the first digital currency, it'll certainly have some problems it fail to solve.

Can you point out one of such deficiency in bitcoin and which altcoin is attempting to solve it. Thanks

Bitcoin is a protocol. What distinguishes it is the amount of consensus that it possesses and the large number of people who agree to follow that "law" and therefore has a more fundamental value than Altcoins.
In fact, most alts are attempts to solve some Bitcoin problems or create copies similar to it.
So, continuous development is what makes it unique.

I think this answer is general and you can view more details here ----> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Wg6aPEkc5k.

If you want a comparison with a particular Altcoin, you can ask the question again.

Surely this is a valuable technical insights.

But this is what I mean  by the question you threw light on. What I mean is this; I often hear that blockchain and cryptography are interwoven.

So, my question is actually to know how these work to produce the decentralised non fiat currency like bitcoin.

In my research I found out that solidity and simplicity are two of the leading blockchain development programming languages.

What do you have to say about these technical issues?

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Thank you for the contribution and the guide.

The algorithmic difference should be a key difference. I believe this is where the technological functionalities differ because the team of engineers that developed it will make this as their trade secret or an undisclosed secrets to the public or third parties which only the programmers or team will know.

Since you mentioned it. There is no prime difference how blockchain of bitcoin works differently on altcoins. Satoshi's goal in layman's term is to create a peer to peer enviroment that doesnt restricted by such authority or entity. Like what has been explained by @pooya87 this is major building blocks that linked together called chain. Now for these chains to connect we execute transactions that has been systematically recognized in a network.

Difference to other blockchain will be restricted to speed, weight, algorithm and scalability of their using consensus.  But if your looking for more detailed comparison you can refer to this simple guide. What is Blockchain Technology - A step by step guide for beginners

blockchain itself is not a "software" it is a database. as the name suggests it is "a chain of blocks" which means blocks of data that each is linked to the previous one like a chain.
considering the fact that a very large percentage of altcoins have copied bitcoin, their blockchains are exactly the same.

i'm not sure what you are asking here, but as far as blockchain is concerned i can think of three topics: the block structure, the way the blocks are linked together, and the method used to set a cost for creating the blocks.

1) the block structure is not really that important. it is the way transactions are serialized and put inside a block, what part is there to be hashed for part 3,...
2) the way blocks are linked together is (in bitcoin) with each new block having a reference to the hash of the previous block. there are other methods in different chains that someone more familiar with them should answer here.
3) the "cost" is the proof of work for bitcoin and all the similar coins which needs to be an irreversible one way function that could be adjusted to be fast or slow depending on the needs of the network (difficulty) and it should produce a result that could be compared with a desired target. the function is usually a hash function (double SHA256 in bitcoin, Keccak256 in ethereum, scrypt in litecoin, prime gap in GapCoin,...) and the target is usually an integer (little endian 256-bit number in first 3 and a set prime gap in GapCoin).

The bitcoin cryptocurrency works on a blockchain software that's unique from that of alcoins' blockchain softwares.

I believe this Bitcoin blockchain work differently from they ways others work.

What I really desire to know is how does the bitcoin blockchain work differently from altcoin blockchain and what are the core programming technologies behind it?

Thanks in advance for your inputs.