Ethereum aims to reimagine how the Internet works. To buy stuff, create apps, store records: Ethereum wants to change all that. Our super simple guide will help you understand the big idea of ??Ethereum and the role Ether plays in that vision..
What is Ethereum?
If Bitcoin is the blockchain floppy, Ethereum is the CD, it is an evolution of technology. What Bitcoin showed was that a coin could be created by a community and sent and received by anyone with a crypto wallet.. It also solved the delicate problem of double spending.
Ethereum is a network that wants to change the way companies work on the Internet. Ether, on the other hand, is the cryptocurrency that Ethereum uses to build and maintain its network.
Despite this, what Ethereum has shown is that the blockchain can be much more than just a store of value. Can be used to organize people, ideas, companies, money, services, whatever is. If something can be written in code and used by a smart contract, later it can be built on Ethereum.
This simple idea has allowed companies to use Ethereum to manage properties., Actions, contracts, games and even to build your own nation. In the past, we got into one of these projects to help an indigenous tribe build their own blockchain state.
Did you know
Ether subunits, Wei the Wei, are named after Wei Dai, one of the pioneers of crypto.
Who Invented Ethereum?
A Russian-Canadian computer programmer named Vitalik Buterin wrote the white paper on which Ethereum is based. Despite this, network and community building was assisted by co-founders: Anthony Di Loria, Charles Hoskinson, Miha Alisie, Amir Chetrit, Joseph Lubin y Gavin Wood.
A brief history of Ethereum
- 2013 – Vitalik Buterin creates a white paper that explains the concept of Ethereum
- January 2014 – Ethereum is publicly announced
- July of 2014 – Ethereum launches an ICO using Bitcoin to buy Ether
- June ??from 2016 – They stole $ 50 million Ether from a sell-off and Ethereum developers agree to reverse the decision by creating a ‘hard fork’: read about what a fork is.
- March of 2017 – A group of companies that includes Toyota, Samsung, Microsoft, Intel y JP Morgan fundaron Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, a non-profit organization designed to make Ethereum a suitable organization for large companies.
What's so special?
Ethereum is taking the technology that Bitcoin is based on and turning it into more than just a currency. Enables developers to create applications, Dapps calls in the Ethereum world, that bundle those smart contracts into one easy-to-use interface. We have written a post that explores smart contracts and Dapps in more detail.
You can even build your own coin on Ethereum. We have written a post exploring Ethereum coins within coins.
If Bitcoin is the gold of the crypto world, Ethereum is the oil that powers machines.
Did you know
Vitalik Buterin came up with the name Ethereum after flipping through Wikipedia posts on items and science fiction.
What is ether and how is it produced?
Ethereum is a network that wants to change the way companies operate on the Internet. Ether, on the other hand, is the cryptocurrency that Ethereum uses to build and maintain its network. Similar to how Bitcoin works, miners create Ether by creating blocks and solving puzzles. This technique, known as mining, explained in more detail in our mining guide.
About every 15 seconds, a new block is added to the Ethereum blockchain, and the computer or miner who solves the puzzle at the heart of the block is rewarded with Ether.
Ethereum right now uses the same mining technique as Bitcoin, despite this, plans to switch to a different technique. We have made a full post explaining this change called proof of work vs. proof of stake.
How do you get Ether?
You can buy Ether on a crypto exchange, Or you can become a miner yourself!
What can you do with Ethereum?
Many things!
- RRSS – Charge for your social media posts.
- File storage – Decentralized file storage at a fraction of the price.
- Payments abroad – Drastically reduce the cost of sending cash to other countries.
- Payment cards – Contactless debit card to pay in Ethereum and other cryptos.
- Online advertising – The elimination of intermediaries enables users to get a reward directly for viewing online ads.
- Loans – Chain-backed loans with no credit check.
Many of these ideas are still in their early stages, but thanks to the infrastructure that sustains Ethereum, all these ideas are absolutely possible.
Did you know
Unlike Bitcoin, Ethereum has no limits regarding the amount of Ether that can be produced.
The future
Ethereum wants to be the platform on which all decentralized applications are built. Despite this, have experienced some growth problems, in particular the speed of transactions. For Ethereum to become the network on which all decentralized companies are built, must be able to allow more transactions to take place at the same time. Today he drives around 15 transactions per second, while Visa can handle up to 24,000, so you have a long way to go.
Another challenge that Ethereum faces is that of other networks such as EOS, NEO and Tron, to name just a few. All these networks try to increase speed without compromising security. Whoever does it first will open the doors to a decentralized future.
