Ethereum was designed to be programmable money. It has a decentralized Turing-complete programming language, written in its own special-purpose software. It has the ability to run applications written in this language, and to automatically pay for the computational effort required. This is not a new idea: Bitcoin was also designed to run applications, but it does so on a separate computer called the “blockchain”, which is not as decentralized as Ethereum’s blockchain.
Ethereum’s advantages over Bitcoin are many. Its programming language is Turing-complete, so you can write arbitrarily complicated programs that do anything you like. It is secure against both accidental and malicious attacks. There is no single point of failure; if all the computers in the world stop working, Ethereum will still go on running and paying people’s wages, whatever happens.
But ethereum’s main advantage over Bitcoin – or any other cryptocurrency – is that it runs on a different kind of computer: the internet itself. Because ethereum uses blockchain technology, it doesn’t rely on trusting a third party such as a bank or an exchange to hold your money for you; instead, it runs through a network of thousands of different computers around the world that have been given permission by everyone who holds an ethereum token (called ether)
Ethereum is the world’s second most valuable cryptocurrency (after bitcoin).**Ethereum’s price has risen rapidly in recent months, and a number of other cryptocurrencies have seen similar increases. Is it the future for cryptocurrencies?
Initially, ether was a sort of side project for the developer of ethereum, Vitalik Buterin. Now it is a thriving business with its own asset class, and several large companies (including JPMorgan Chase) have announced plans to build applications on top of ethereum.
It is easy to see why Ethereum has become so popular. It offers a far more sophisticated blockchain than bitcoin. This makes it easier to run applications that use blockchain technology, and could greatly expand the market for blockchains.
The problem with ethereum is that it does not have a clear roadmap for how its value will be distributed or what will happen to it when no one needs an incentive to create new applications on top of ethereum or when everyone who wants to create applications will have an incentive to do so. If no such plan is used then there are two possibilities: first, that new applications will not get built because people don’t want to invest in them; second, that no new applications get built because there isn’t enough demand from investors who want to build on
Ethereum is the new cryptocurrency. It’s like bitcoin, but better. Some people think it could be the next big thing. I don’t know. Maybe it will become a new gold standard. Maybe not.
But I do know that to make money in cryptocurrencies, you have to understand what they are good for and why they are important. That’s another reason why I like ethereum.
The currency known as Ethereum has been around for a while, but it’s only recently become a household name. Like Bitcoin, Ethereum is based on the idea of digital currency that exists only as information stored on your computer. But Ethereum is more than just another coin; it’s a programmable platform that can be used to create smart contracts: self-enforcing agreements that are automatically executed when certain conditions are met.
Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum aren’t just alternative currencies: they’re platforms for building decentralized applications. Applications that run without central authority and are secure against censorship.
One of the most ambitious projects built on top of Ethereum is called The DAO, or Decentralized Autonomous Organization. It was intended to be a new kind of venture capital fund, where money contributed by investors would go toward funding startups. Like other venture funds, The DAO would have funded new products and services and reaped returns when the businesses it had funded became successful.
But then an attack was launched on The DAO, and the fund lost about $50 million in Ether thanks to some sloppy coding mistakes. To recover those funds, a group of people calling themselves The hard fork of ethereum was launched—a code fork that would effectively split the Ethereum blockchain in
Ethereum is the leading smart contract platform. It’s a decentralized software platform that runs smart contracts: applications that run exactly as programmed without any possibility of downtime, censorship, fraud or third party interference. What makes Ethereum special is that it’s more than a blockchain network: it’s a Turing-complete virtual machine that can execute scripts using an international network of public nodes.
Ethereum is designed to run the applications packed into smart contracts, to provide the computing capacity needed to run them reliably and to facilitate the development and maintenance of financial instruments, decentralized applications and distributed organizations.
The easiest way for an investor to invest in ethereum is through a mining contract. This ensures that you will be paid for your efforts and gives you the opportunity to earn a return on your investment.
Ethereum is a decentralized platform for applications that run exactly as programmed without any chance of fraud, censorship or third-party interference. Ethereum is a new kind of virtual machine, which can be used to build smart contracts and possibly (though unlikely) even decentralized applications that run on top of Ethereum.
Ethereum’s “Ether” is in many ways the same as Bitcoin; they are both public digital currencies that can be sent peer-to-peer without the need for an intermediary. But there are some key differences:
Bitcoin is mined, whereas Ether is not. Although the total supply of Ether will grow over time, it will never exceed 20% of all Bitcoins in existence.
Total supply: 210 million Bitcoin; 72 million Ether
The price of Bitcoin and Ether are about to cross for the first time since 2013. Be careful if you decide to invest: with Bitcoin’s price rising rapidly, it may not be possible to buy large amounts of it at a low enough price to make it worth your while.
When investors buy a stock, they don’t know the price of that stock, or the company it’s supposed to go with. And they certainly don’t know whether it will stay in business.
It takes them a while to figure out where to put their money. In the meantime, if the price goes up, they can sell and make more money than they would have by buying it at the start. Or if it goes down, they can buy it back at a lower price.
But with cryptocurrencies you don’t have these options. The price is fixed and there are no factories. You can’t buy low and sell high because you don’t know what the price will be at any given time.