Over the last decade, blockchains have evolved. From simple peer-to-peer payment networks, they grew into full-fledged decentralized computers. The advent of smart contracts has pushed the industry forward. It has also provided a multitude of use cases for crypto.

Bitcoin also allows for some programmability, as we’ve recently seen with the popular Ordinals protocol. It seems that Bitcoin’s 1st generation blockchain still has some aces up its sleeve when it comes to smart contracts. As such, you shouldn’t hastily use the BTC to ETH converter, but instead learn about these capabilities.

This article will lay out the smart contract capabilities of BTC and ETH and compare them head to head. It should give you enough information to decide which network you should use.

Diving Into Bitcoin’s Script

Bitcoin uses the Script programming language for programming its smart contracts. For security reasons, this language is purposefully not Turing-complete. It only allows a limited scope when programming smart interactions with the network and prevents looping. For example, when comparing it to ALGO vs SOL, Script has much more limited capacity.

The main usage for Script is to define the conditions on how users spend assets on the blockchain. It allows the users to sign a transaction and update the distributed Bitcoin ledger.

Limited Smart Contract Functionality

Script is intentionally simplified to prevent security attacks on the network. However, over the years, Bitcoin developers have enhanced the base stack of the code.

Each upgrade upon the initial code follows the Bitcoin ethos. It stays consistent with its core principles of remaining secure from outside attacks. For instance, developers released the Ordinals Protocol. It uses the Taproot upgrade to store data in Bitcoin transactions. As a result, users can now create fungible and non-fungible tokens on Bitcoin.

Where to Use Bitcoin's Scripting Language?

Script’s major use case remains in the treatment of transactions on the Bitcoin network. It allows the protocol to validate transactions. It also ensures that BTC is spent correctly between two parties.

What Is Ethereum’s Solidity?

Gavin Wood created the Solidity programming language. Its goal was to provide blockchain technology with more utility. The native language of Ethereum supports the creation of smart contracts. It is Turing-complete. This means that the language can manipulate and change data. This provides developers the power to run decentralized applications.

Smart Contract Functionality

Solidity allows developers to deploy decentralized protocols that run on Ethereum Virtual Machine. This EVM acts as a global, decentralized computer.

For example, Solidity provides various token standards. The ERC-20 token standard revolutionized the industry. It allows anyone to mint fungible tokens on Ethereum. On the other hand, ERC-721 provides a standard for non-fungible tokens or NFTs. These can store complex data such as images, video, text, etc.

Moreover, Solidity allows for the deployment of decentralized applications. These complex pieces of software allow programming user interactions within the blockchain. For example, they can act as decentralized token exchanges. They can also be lending protocols, NFT marketplaces, and even blockchain-based games.

Rich Ecosystem

This versatility of Solidity has allowed Ethereum to grow into one of the most used blockchain networks in the industry. DEXes and lending protocols provided the cornerstones for building the decentralized finance industry.

The emergence of token standards has allowed for the tokenization of the industry as a whole. It provided projects with a decentralized way to fund their ventures. It also allowed their community to participate in governance.

The DAO ecosystem on Ethereum is growing. It shows the incredible potential of the technology for decentralizing companies.

Script vs Solidity: Smart Contract Competition

If we have to choose between the two, Solidity is much more versatile and functional. Script is intentionally bogged down to avoid any weaknesses in the protocol. So, launching decentralized applications (dApps) is reserved for Ethereum.

Still, Bitcoin developers are providing some crucial upgrades with the Ordinals protocol. While it doesn’t allow for dApps, users can now mint tokens on top of Bitcoin. This has proven to be incredibly popular in the crypto community in recent months.