Ethereum is a decentralized platform that runs smart contracts: applications that run exactly as programmed without any possibility of fraud or third party interference.
Ethereum is a PoW blockchain, meaning that new blocks are created through a process of mining. Miners compete to find a hash that meets certain criteria, and the winner is rewarded with ETH.
NOTE: Ethereum is not just a Proof-of-Work (PoW) system, it is a hybrid system that also supports Proof-of-Stake (PoS). Ethereum is moving away from PoW towards PoS and users should be aware of the differences between these two systems when considering investing in Ethereum. The risks associated with PoS are different from those associated with PoW and users should be aware of them before investing.
Ethereum’s PoW algorithm is called Ethash, and it was designed to be ASIC-resistant, meaning that specialized hardware is not needed to mine ETH.
ETH has been mined since 2015, and over time the rewards for miners have decreased. Currently, the block reward is 2 ETH, and it is expected to decrease to 0 ETH in the next few years as the supply of ETH approaches its maximum of 120 million.
Ethereum’s PoW algorithm is designed to be ASIC-resistant, meaning that specialized hardware is not needed to mine ETH. This makes it possible for anyone with a computer to participate in mining Ethereum.
5 Related Question Answers Found
Ethereum is a decentralized platform that runs smart contracts: applications that run exactly as programmed without any possibility of fraud or third party interference. Ethereum is also a cryptocurrency, which can be used to pay for goods and services, or to trade like any other currency. The native currency of the Ethereum network is called ether.
It’s no secret that Ethereum’s ICO was a resounding success. In less than two months, the project raised over $18 million dollars, making it the second most successful cryptocurrency crowdsale to date. But what exactly is an ICO?
Ethereum is a state machine. That is, it keeps track of a global state, which consists of all accounts and their balances, as well as all contract code and storage. The state is stored in a data structure called a Merkle Patricia tree.
In 2015, a 19-year-old Russian-Canadian programmer named Vitalik Buterin published a white paper describing Ethereum, a decentralized platform that would use blockchain technology to enable anyone to build and run decentralized applications. The vision was to create a “World Computer” that would be more resilient and democratized than the centralized servers that power the internet today. Since its launch in 2015, Ethereum has grown to become the second largest blockchain platform by market capitalization, with a community of developers building thousands of decentralized applications on its network.
An ICO, or Initial Coin Offering, is a fundraising method where new projects sell their underlying crypto tokens in exchange for bitcoin and ether. It’s somewhat similar to an Initial Public Offering (IPO) where investors purchase shares of a company. ICOs have become a popular way to fund cryptocurrency projects and have raised over $1 billion dollars in the last year.
