Ethereum

Ethereum helps people make safe payments or store value and enables developers to build and run distributed applications on its decentralized blockchain platform.

Overview

Ethereum is a decentralized, open-source blockchain-based computing platform that uses ether (ETH) for receiving and sending value globally. It provides individuals, businesses, and developers easy access to a decentralized financial system and secured environment to build and run applications.

Furthermore, Ethereum utilizes blockchain technology to store computer code that powers tamper-proof smart contracts and automatically executes the agreements. It also allows non-fungible tokens (NFTs) development that lets users tokenize their digital and non-digital valuable assets.

Ethereum’s Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO) democratizes decision-making by helping users to create digital organizations that run on a blockchain network without hierarchical management. DAOs rely on a decentralized voting system to reach a decision. They also operate based on protocols embedded in a  smart contract. 

The platform features a rich knowledge base that helps developers build and run applications on the blockchain network. In addition, it hosts a thriving and high-reaching online community where thousands of like-minded individuals discuss and celebrate Ethereum. 

Today, Ethereum is the largest open-ended decentralized platform. It currently uses a consensus protocol called proof of work (PoW), which requires members to solve arbitrary mathematical puzzles to prevent fraud and malicious attacks. 

But the blockchain platform will transition to the energy-efficient proof of stake (PoS) in 2022 as part of its Eth2 upgrade. The new changes will replace miners with validators who will stake their ETH holdings to create new blocks.

Product details

Ethereum uses ether (ETH) to underpin the blockchain’s financial system. The digital currency facilitates peer-to-peer payment. It’s accessible to anyone with a wallet and doesn’t require a bank account to accept payments. ETH is available in flexible amounts, allowing users to hold a fraction at a time. In addition, the internet money has no centralized control, making it free from third-party interference. 

Ethereum lets users pick a wallet to manage their funds based on the features they want, like fraud alert or withdrawal limits. The wallet is like an internet banking app that lets users interact with their Ethereum accounts. It can read a user's balance, enable transactions and connect to applications. Ethereum also supports multiple wallet products so that users can swap providers at any time.

Ethereum empowers developers with robust documentation to create decentralized applications. The builders’ manual lets them learn Ethereum development. They can learn step by step through tutorials from older developers. 

Beginners can access several tools to experiment with Ethereum development, providing a more interactive learning experience. The documentation also has many paid online courses to get them up to speed. Furthermore, they can set up their local development environment to start building immediately.

Ethereum provides a decentralized finance (DeFi) system as an alternative to the tightly controlled traditional financial ecosystem. The decentralized platform makes Ethereum’s financial products accessible to anyone with an internet connection. 

Ethereum also eliminates intermediaries between parties in financial transactions, enabling them to transact their businesses with peace of mind, without worrying about whether the government or any institution is looking over their shoulders. Additionally, DeFi allows users to hold their money and control where it goes.

Ethereum allows businesses to bring blockchain technology to their organization. It lets them competitively future-proof their network, improve trust and accountability. Enterprise Ethereum will enable businesses to deploy and manage private blockchain networks instead of building one from scratch, saving them millions of dollars and the stress of managing a team of blockchain developers. 

Businesses can also tokenize any asset on Ethereum and build on the public Ethereum Mainnet to leverage the full potential of decentralized blockchain at reduced costs.

Ethereum supports the development of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). It lets users like digital artists or content creators claim provable ownership of any unique assets. NFTs are unique, irreplaceable, and come with unique identifiers and metadata no other token can replicate, making them have only one owner at a time. 

Furthermore, they enable users to tokenize valuables and are compatible with anything built with Ethereum. Owners can trade them on any NFTs marketplace for another NFT, for example, an art piece for an  NFT ticket.

Ethereum helps businesses secure transactions with smart contracts removing the need for trust. A smart contract digitizes agreements, allowing businesses transactions to happen trustlessly without any intermediary. It turns the contract terms into computer codes that execute automatically when the parties meet the conditions, eliminating the need for error-prone and subjective human factors. 

Smart contracts live on Ethereum public blockchain, making them secure, easy to track and audit. It also protects them from prying eyes, keeping user privacy safe.

Ethereum allows users to create decentralized applications (Dapp) with all of Ethereum’s superpowers. Dapps are not like regular apps. They don’t have real owners; once deployed to Ethereum, anyone can use its features, and nobody can take them down, not even the developers. Also, Dapps can integrate with ETH, so developers don’t worry about setting up third-party payment gateways. 

The decentralized apps don’t usually experience downtime unless Ethereum goes down, which is near impossible since the network is secure and difficult to attack.

Ethereum is a transparent and open-source project, allowing hundreds of developers to contribute to making it better. Ethereum source code is open to everyone, letting contributors freely modify it, use it differently or update the platform. Of course, the free flow of ideas makes Ethereum more sophisticated and technologically advanced.

However, the blockchain allows updates through the GitHub PR process, meaning developers have to create a local copy of the website, make their changes and request to merge them.

Recap

Ethereum is a decentralized blockchain network powering the world’s second most popular cryptocurrency. The platform is free from government and other third-party interference, and it's open to everyone with an Ethereum wallet, internet connection, and fund, regardless of their nationality, ethnicity, or status. It has its programming language and lets developers build and run distributed applications on the network. The network also facilitates immutable and fraud-proof digital contracts.