Ethereum: A Guide To Ethereum And Its Potential
This is the second article in a series of three. The first article was an overview of the technology: how it works, how it compares to Bitcoin and its potential impact on society. This article will focus specifically on Ethereum, the cryptocurrency platform that uses blockchain technology. We will explain what it is and then give you an introduction to the technology that runs it.
What is Ethereum?
Ethereum is a decentralized platform for applications that run exactly as programmed without any chance of fraud, censorship or third-party interference. It was created by Vitalik Buterin and launched via an ICO in 2014. It has been described as “Bitcoin 2.0” due to its similarity to Bitcoin but with some key differences such as the use of smart contracts and the ability to create your own token (a digital asset) on top of it.
Who Is Behind Ethereum?
Ethereum was invented by Vitalik Buterin, who was 19 at the time. He started working on Bitcoin Magazine in 2011 when he was 17 years old and dropped out of university in order to focus full-time on his new project: creating something better than Bitcoin. Vitalik’s main goal with Ethereum is not just creating
Currently the cryptocurrency market has a total capitalization of over $135 billion. Bitcoin has a market cap of over $74 billion, while Ethereum is worth over $35 billion.
Bitcoin and Ethereum are not the same **
The biggest difference between Bitcoin and Ethereum is that Bitcoin is purely a digital currency whereas Ethereum has a language for smart contracts built in. This means that you can create applications on top of Ethereum. Many people think this language can have profound implications for all sorts of systems, including the financial system.
What’s a smart contract? **
A smart contract is an agreement which can be written in code and then executed automatically when certain conditions are met. The aim is to allow the exchange of money, property or anything else of value in a transparent manner while avoiding the services of a middleman such as a lawyer or broker.
These agreements are written in code and held on the blockchain technology platform, which allows them to self-execute when certain conditions are met by both parties. This process is said to save time and money, as well as reduce fraud.
How did Ethereum come about? **
Unlike Bitcoin, which was created by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009, Ethereum was conceived by Vitalik Buterin, who wanted to create something different from Bitcoin
Ethereum is a decentralized platform that runs smart contracts: applications that run exactly as programmed without any possibility of downtime, censorship, fraud or third party interference. These apps run on a custom built blockchain, an enormously powerful shared global infrastructure that can move value around and represent the ownership of property. This enables developers to create markets, store registries of debts or promises, move funds in accordance with instructions given long in the past (like a will or a futures contract) and many other things that have not been invented yet, all without a middle man or counterparty risk.
The project was bootstraped via an ether pre-sale during August 2014 by fans all around the world. It is developed by the Ethereum Foundation, a Swiss nonprofit, with contributions from great minds across the globe.
On traditional server architectures, every application has to set up its own servers that run their own code in isolated silos, making sharing of data hard. If a single app is compromised or goes offline, many users and other apps are affected. On a blockchain, anyone can set up a node that replicates the necessary data for all nodes to reach an agreement and be compensated by users and app developers. This allows user data to remain private and apps to be decentralised like the Internet was
With the recent price surge of Ethereum, many investors are beginning to ask themselves if this is a good time to invest in Ethereum.
The ETH/USD exchange rate has increased over 175% in the past three months, and Ether, the native currency of the Ethereum network is currently hovering around $0.75 USD per unit. In fact, Ethereum has been growing as fast as Bitcoin did over the years – and some people argue that Ethereum is a better investment than Bitcoin due to its unique technological features which make it easier to program decentralized applications on its blockchain.
In order to answer this question I will first look at whether or not I believe that Ethereum is a solid investment opportunity, and then I will look at how we can invest in Ethereum.
Ethereum is a new cryptocurrency that has received a lot of attention recently. Like Bitcoin, Ethereum is a distributed public blockchain network. Although there are some significant technical differences between the two, the most important distinction to note is that Bitcoin and Ethereum differ substantially in purpose and capability. While the bitcoin blockchain is used to track ownership of digital currency (bitcoins), the Ethereum blockchain focuses on running the programming code of any decentralized application.
In the simplest terms, Ethereum can be described as a global computer that allows anyone to write programs on it that run as programmed without any possibility of downtime, censorship, fraud or third party interference. This technology is currently being used to create hundreds of decentralized applications or dapps (e.g. Cryptokitties is one such dapp). To learn more about dapps, you can read this article here.
Ethereum was proposed in 2013 by Vitalik Buterin, a cryptocurrency researcher and programmer. Development was funded by an online crowdsale that took place between July and August 2014.[1] The system went live on 30 July 2015, with 11.9 million coins “premined” for the crowdsale.[2] This accounts for about 13 percent of the total circulating supply.[2] In 2016 Ethereum launched Frontier; the
If you have been following the financial markets in the past few months, you have probably heard of Ethereum. Ethereum is a blockchain-based platform for decentralized applications.
The idea is to make a network that lets different applications communicate with each other. It can be used to create any type of application, from social networks to self-driving cars.
Ethereum has already been used by many organizations as a way to run their own cryptocurrency (called “tokens”) on top of the Ethereum blockchain. This is similar to how Bitcoin works, but it uses a different technology called smart contracts. Smart contracts are programs that run on top of Ethereum and are controlled by an organization or person.
The most famous example of this is The DAO, which raised over $150 million in its crowdfund campaign last year. The DAO was then hacked and lost more than $50 million worth of Ether (the value unit of Ethereum). This led to further security vulnerabilities being found, and the project was eventually shut down by the developers.
Another example is Golem Network, which raised around $8 million during its crowdfund campaign last year as well. Golem Network allows users to rent out their computer’s processing power in exchange for GNT tokens (the value unit of Golem Network).
The cryptocurrency market is currently in a state of disarray. Although Bitcoin has demonstrated impressive resilience, the rest of the market has not been so lucky. Ethereum, in particular, has had a difficult time rebounding from its recent lows, despite the fact that strong fundamentals and upcoming scaling solutions have bolstered investor sentiment for the second-largest cryptocurrency.
To date, there are no openly available sources that provide an in-depth look at Ethereum’s current performance and potential future trajectory. In this article, we aim to remedy this by providing a thorough technical and fundamental breakdown of Ethereum.
It is important to note that this piece will largely focus on the technical aspects of Ethereum, rather than its potential as an investment vehicle. As such, price action and cryptocurrency valuations will not be analyzed. However, it is our opinion that understanding the underlying mechanics of Ethereum will greatly enhance one’s ability to make informed investment decisions.