Internet next step
If Bitcoin (BTC) is the supposed future of money, then what
is it Ethereum? Why is Ethereum next to BTC on all exchanges and in the news? However, it is not exactly fair to consider Ethereum an equal competitor to Bitcoin as it has different goals, features and even technology.
Ethereum is a decentralized blockchain network powered by the Ether token that allows users to make transactions, earn by committing an amount of Ether through staking, use and store non-fungible tokens (NFTs), exchange cryptocurrencies, play games, use social media, and more.
Ethereum is a block-proof of stake (PoS) chain, after Ethereum 2.0 to be more environmentally friendly and solve scalability problems.
Many consider Ethereum the next step of the Internet, the new generation that supports decentralized applications, decentralized economy, and decentralized exchanges. Ethereum aims to support Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 on its network.
The history of Ethereum
Ethereum has not always been the second largest blockchain in the world. Vitalik Buterin was actually among the people who created it to answer Bitcoin’s shortcomings. He published the Ethereum White Paper in 2013 outlining the smart contracts that enable the development of decentralized applications.
This is how Ethereum 1.0 was born, think of it like Apple’s App Store i.e. a space for tens of thousands of different applications, all with the same set of rules that is coded on the network and enforced autonomously, with developers able to impose their own rules within DApps . Without a central factor to change the regulations resulting in power being in the community.
Building such a network is not cheap so that Buterin and its co-founders – Gavin Wood, Jeffrey Wilcke, Charles Hoskinson, Mihai Alisie, Anthony Di Iorio and Amir Chetrit made a symbolic presale to raise $ 18,439,086 funding current and future developments of Ethereum.
The team also founded the Ethereum Foundation in Switzerland, with the goal of maintaining and developing the network. When Buterin announced that the foundation would operate as a nonprofit several co-founders left.
In 2016 the developers founded the DAO, a democratic group that voted for changes and proposals to the network. However, everything went wrong when a hacker stole $40 million of funds resulting in the DAO to prevent theft voting for a hard fork on Ethereum. This new hard fork retained the name Ethereum while the old network exists as Ethereum Classic .
What has Ethereum accomplished?
Decentralized finance was arguably the Ethereum network’s greatest achievement. Decentralized applications (Dapp) appeared in 2019 to 2020 and are growing in popularity every day. As a result, the more daps used, the more the Ethereum network will be used.
Artists for example earn millions of dollars by bringing their work to the blockchain through NFTs. One could say why buy digital art, when we can just take a picture of it. Collectors want to own something that is allowed through NFTs. It’s the same reason someone would want the Mona Lisa prototype Don’t just be a copy even if they are identical. NFTs can represent used items and accessories in games. Developers have built uncensored social media apps and all of them managed autonomously via blockchain and smart contracts, with DeFi giving users control over their funds more than ever.