So reading about ETH made me realize something...

so reading about ETH made me realize something, i dont really understand what ethereum is and how its different to bitcoin.
What are smart contracts? and how is ethereum different than bitcoin?

Ethereum is platform and people can make app on it

Ethereum is not a currency, nor a coin. It is a platform where 3rd parties can create tokens on and give them a purpose. Software / apps written for it, mostly involving those tokens, are called smart contracts. They are basically decentralized programs. What they do is up to the creator.
Using the Ethereum network requires network fees, paid for in the first ever created token on the platform - Ether (ETH).

So yes, it is much different to Bitcoin, although both use the same basic (blockchain) technology.

Bitcoin purists fail to see that Ethereum never intented to be a competitor, let alone a copy cat. They just used the idea behind bitcoin and created something different out of it.

ok but what does "using the ethereum network" mean? is it something like amazon computing cloud or is it just using the ledger to store information?

The second. Basically every step where you need a miner to include your information in a block, you need to pay fees.
At the moment this is mainly sending tokens over the platform.
Wanna send some Aragon tokens to Bittrex? Gonna have to pay in Ether

how is it any different than someone making an app that uses the bitcoin blockchain in the same way?

An app that uses bitcoin transactions will still need a centralized server to run on, even if it can interoperate with the Bitcoin blockchain.

These smart contract apps on Ethereum (also called dApps for decentralized apps) are completely running in the distributed ledger. its called EVM, Ethereum Virtual Machine.

Once you upload your code as a smart contract to the network, it gets mined onto the Ethereum blockchain and does actually compute on it. Its an immutable part of the blockchain now. Nobody can delete or modify it.

Bitcoin currently does not support smart contract (addresses) but yes, it has been in the talks for a long time and yes, theoretically it would be possible.

But the point here is, what does the platform try to be? Bitcoin tries to be a currency and developers make efforts into paying your coffee with it one day.

Ethereum tries to be a platform for applications.

Both have different priorities and get developed in different directions to optimise them for their primary intended usecase.

thank you for your help

>mfw reading this thread

same, but I'll gladly give my money to the smart people so they can turn it into 2 moneys

No worries, feels good to see some genuinely interested anons on Veeky Forums between all the autism.

Go to CoinDesk brainlets. Read their "Blockchain 101" section of their site. Then pick of a copy of the Age of Cryptocurrency by Vigna.

youre welcome.
i can only suggest reading up on decentralization, blockchain tech and its intended purposes. its a new technology that will eventually disrupt many industries if not economies. some people claim, this is the greatest invention since the internet. this will be far bigger than mad gainz (tm) on trading random numbers on the internet

Maybe consider lurking moar on technical blockchain forums.
With a basic technical understanding of what you are dealing with, you will be

a) more resistant to scams
b) able to use technical and political happenings like e.g. the recent BCH hard fork to your advantage and make a lot of money out of it

Someone creates a rare pepe and sells it on the internet. He wants 1 bitcoin for it. You send 1 bitcoin. He doesn't send the pepe. You're fucked.

Someone creates a rare pepe and sells it through a smart contract on ethereum. The smart contract is set up in such a way that when you send 1 bitcoin (or the eth equivalent) the pepe is automatically sent to you. You are guaranteed to get the pepe when you send the bitcoin

(well more specifically you are guaranteed to get whatever he set up in the smart contract, if the contract is set up in a way that it will send a picture of the seller's dick then you will receive a picture of his dick, but there could be ways to make sure you'd get approximately what you want)

how would you ensure such a thing?

that its not a dick but pepe, I mean (not talking about it rarity, ofc)

its written in the code of the smart contract
IF received 1 bitcoin THEN send 1 rare pepe

you can look it up beforehand. code will be executed exactly as in the source of the smart contract (as long as miners are active on the network)

I understand, but how would you ensure it is the pepe and not a scam with a dick pic?

rare pepe in the code refers to the "rare pepe" smart contract (the ledger where all rare pepes and their owners are stored)

it technically doesnt send the pepe to you, but it calls a function on the rare pepe smart contract which changes ownership of 1 rare pepe to you.

if its like
when receive 1 bitcoin then send email(dickpic.jpg),
its high likely, you will get scammed.
but if its like
then call rare_pepe_contract.send(my pepe, to you),
you can check on the rare pepe contract if function is called properly for a pepe transaction.

BTW its all pseudo code, I have no clue of smart contracts!

most tokens on ethereum network do use a standard set of functions "ERC20 compliant" to make life easier. but of course you should check if the code refers to the official rare pepe contract. he could be trying to trick you by referring to a copy of the rare pepe contract. but these pepes are worthless.

ask venezuela how worthless they are...

worthless as they have no value on the market.
or you could try to promote the copy pepe contract to pump up the price for copy pepes. just call it pepe cash (this is already a thing)