title_body: eUTXO transaction model Vs Account Based Transaction Model
upvoted_answer: There is a nice blog post bu IOG: Cardano’s Extended UTXO accounting model – built to support multi-assets and smart contracts that discusses the difference between two models.
  For a more in depth comparison, I recommend the UTxO- vs account-based smart contract blockchain programming paradigms paper.
  To sum UTXO up:
  
  A UTXO is the output of a previous transaction, which can be spent in
  the future
  UTXO chains have no accounts. Instead, coins are stored as
  a list of UTXOs, and transactions are created by consuming existing
  UTXOs and producing new ones in their place
  Balance is the sum of
  UTXOs controlled by a given address
  UTXOs resemble cash in that they
  use ‘change’, and are indivisible (UTXOs are used whole)
  
  To sum up the Account/Balance model:
  
  This accounting model resembles how a bank operates
  Users have accounts that hold their coin balance
  It is possible to spent partial balances
  The concept of change does not apply