I don't think they work the same way. VeChain is like a truth machine- they trace goods and services from inception through consumption. For example in China 30,000 bottles of counterfeit wine are sold every hour. VeChain uses rfid to trace the wine from when it's bottled through transportation (including temp and environment of the container) through the retailer to the consumer. So people can just check and see if that particular bottle has already been sold and consumed.
Honestly, I think ETH is finished as the #1 platform in its field. They got into the game first, but there are too many other platforms that do the same thing (EOS). In a year or so I see ETH as a double digit coin.
Interesting usecase for Vechain.
Eth has its flaws, but i think there's a lot of huge stakeholders and it wouldn't go away without a good fight. I read about CASPER. Not sure how it will help but i'm here to see how it all plays out. Can't wait to see Cryptocurrency established yet!