Skip to main content

What is Ethereum (ETH) ? all you need to know .

 


What Is Ethereum?

Ethereum is a smart contract platform that enables developers to build decentralized applications (DApps) on its blockchain. Ether (ETH) is the native digital currency of the Ethereum platform.

Ethereum is supported in part by the Ethereum Foundation, a non-profit that is part of the larger Ethereum ecosystem including enterprise Ethereum consortiums like the Ethereum Enterprise Alliance.

How Does Ethereum Work?

Vitalik Buterin first conceptualized Ethereum in 2013 with the idea of developing an open-source blockchain platform different from Bitcoin (BTC), thus pioneering smart contracts. On the Ethereum blockchain, a smart contract behaves like a self-operating computer program that automatically executes when specific conditions are met. Blockchain allows smart contracts’ code to be run exactly as programmed without any possibility of downtime, censorship, fraud or third-party interference.

The Ethereum network went live on July 30, 2015, with 73 million Ether pre-mined.

How Do You Mine Ethereum?

Ethereum mining is currently based on a proof-of-work (PoW) protocol (like Bitcoin), with future plans to switch to proof-of-stake. Ethereum mining works when miners use their computational power to solve a mathematical problem (finding the hash of a block’s unique header metadata). The first miner to successfully solve the problem (find the hash) then broadcasts that the block has been mined to the entire Ethereum network for other nodes to validate and add the block to the blockchain.

The Ethereum blockchain was supposed to migrate from a PoW system to the less energy-investive proof-of-stake system (PoS) system in January 2020, but the deadline was not met. A switch to PoS and the release of Ethereum 2.0 is still expected for later in 2020.

Ethereum mining is based on the Ethash algorithm, and ETH miners originally received a block reward of 5 ETH per block when the network first went live. In the end of 2017, the Byzantine hard fork of the Ethereum blockchain lowered the block rewards from 5 ETH to 3 ETH. In early 2019, the reward was again lowered to 2 ETH in what is known as “the thirdening.”

The Ethash proof-of-work protocol makes it not profitable to use ASICs to mine (unlike Bitcoin). Each Ethereum block aims to take an average of 12 seconds to be mined, and the level of difficulty of mining is proportional to the total amount of computer power (or network’s hashrate) being used to mine Ethereum.

Ethereum transactions are called “gas” and they are responsible for powering operations on the entire network, meaning you have to spend your “gas” (Ether) in order to make changes to the blockchain. Ethereum also has a Turing complete internal code.

What Is Ethereum Used For?

The Ethereum platform is used by developers to build new kinds of DApps, which can have a variety of uses ranging from the creation of new digital assets and uncensorable web apps to building decentralized autonomous organizations and more. Anyone around the world is able to freely connect to the Ethereum network.

Ether, the native currency of the Ethereum blockchain, is also used as digital money and can be sent to anyone in the world instantly. Ether can be used as a form of payment or a store of value.

How Do You Buy Ethereum?

If you are not mining the Ethereum blockchain (which can be prohibitively expensive unless you are a professional miner), you can buy Ethereum on a cryptocurrency exchange. You can also store your Ether on an exchange or a hot or cold wallet.

Buy ETH

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

How to play and earn in CryptoKitties

CryptoKitties is a blockchain-based game where players can buy, sell and breed digital cats with unique attributes. Reminiscent of Tamagotchi and Pokémon, the wildly popular digital pets and creatures of the 1990s, CryptoKitties is a blockchain-based game where players can collect, trade and breed digital virtual cats. CryptoKitties was the first Ethereum-based game, and its popularity underscored many of the network’s scaling issues. This digital cat-breeding blockchain game caused quite a bit of congestion on the Ethereum blockchain, peaking in 2020. However, the game’s creators were able to address these issues. What is CryptoKitties? Launched in 2017, CryptoKitties was built by Dapper Labs, the company that uses blockchain technology to bring nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and new forms of digital engagement to fans around the world. CryptoKitties is also considered one of the world’s first-ever blockchain games. In the game, each one of the digital collectible cats possesses a

Bitcoin dominance falls under 40%

While Bitcoin critics claim this means that BTC is losing its first-mover competitive advantage, others are anticipating the “altcoin season” is just around the corner, or might even be already underway. Bitcoin’s market dominance has continued to fall, bottoming out below 40% this week. That’s very close to the all-time low of 36.7% in Jan 2018 according to data from Tradingview. Bitcoin ( BTC ) market dominance refers to the ratio between BTC’s market cap and the total crypto market cap. It's not the first time dominance has dipped in 2021. Back in May, Cointelegraph reported that BTC had dipped to represent just 40.3% of the combined crypto asset capitalization, according to Coinmarketcap, and it neared the same level again in September.  Bitcoin critic and Europac chairman Peter Schiff tweeted about the event on Dec 29th, saying that it’s indicative that BTC is “losing its first-mover competitive advantage.” With over 16,000 alternative cryptos to choose from Bitcoin

Five Bitcoin Price Charts Analyzing The Dramatic Q1 2022 Conclusion

There are only hours remaining until the Q1 2022 close in Bitcoin price action. With the important quarterly candle set to close tonight, let’s look at what technicals might say about the direction of the next quarter. Q1 2022 Comes To A Close For Bitcoin The first quarter of a year, often sets the tone for the year to come. In investments, a poor Q1 performance is indicative of a bad year ahead. Considering the fact that Bitcoin price is now above $45,000 after touching $32,000 this quarter, it is tough to say the performance has been “poor” by anything other than crypto standards. Related Reading | Bitcoin Weekly Momentum Flips Bullish For First Time In 2022 The cryptocurrency has recovered nearly 40% from the low, leaving a long wick behind. Such a long wick suggests that before the quarter came to a close, buyers stepped up in a major way. Buyers were able to step up in a larger capacity in Q1 2022 than bears were able to in the final quarter of last year. The bearish wick to cl