Assets, Ethereum

Is Ethereum a KYC?

Ethereum is a decentralized platform that runs smart contracts: applications that run exactly as programmed without any possibility of 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 middleman or counterparty risk.

The project was bootstrapped via an ether presale in August 2014 by fans all around the world. It is developed by the Ethereum Foundation, a Swiss non-profit, with contributions from great minds across the globe.

Ethereum is often described as a digital currency but here’s something important to remember: Ethereum is much more than that. Yes, Ether can be traded like a currency on digital currency exchanges and used to purchase goods and services.

NOTE: WARNING: Ethereum is not a Know Your Customer (KYC) system. Ethereum is a decentralized platform for applications that run exactly as programmed without any chance of fraud, censorship, or third party interference. Therefore, Ethereum does not provide the same level of identity verification and customer data protection that KYC does.

But Ethereum is also the name for the technology platform – the decentralized application platform that uses Ether as its fuel – and for the cryptocurrency itself.

When most people talk about Ethereum they are actually referring to the Ethereum network (sometimes called the “Ethereum Virtual Machine”), which consists of tens of thousands of individual computers all running the Ethereum software. Together they form a global, decentralized supercomputer that can do anything that any other computer can do, but without any single point of failure and with far more processing power than any other machine or group of machines on Earth.

The fact that Ethereum is decentralized is what makes it so powerful. It means that no single entity can control it or shut it down – it is censorship resistant. And because it runs on blockchain technology, it is incredibly secure and transparent.

Transactions on the Ethereum network are recorded on an immutable public ledger called the blockchain, which allows anyone to view all past transactions at any time. This makes fraud and hacking virtually impossible.

So, is Ethereum a KYC? No, Ethereum is not a KYC.

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