Ethereum
Ethereum is a distributed blockchain platform for smart contracts and space-divided applications. Ethereum comes at 2nd most important and valuable cryptocurrency after Bitcoin, within 2 years of its release. The Ethereum network gained a lot of interest around the world when China claimed that it is the best blockchain network ever created. Ether (ETH) is a native cryptocurrency used in all transactions in the Ethereum blockchain.
Ethereum was founded by programmer Vitalik Buterin in 2013. Other founders include Gavin Wood, Charles Hoskinson, Anthony Di Iorio, and Joseph Lubin. Its network consists of an open, internationally distributed computing infrastructure that makes programs called smart contracts. This network is powered by ether (ETH). A smart contract is actually a code that binds two parties to an agreement and can accomplish itself, without a mediator.
This performance earned him the nickname "the computer of the world" (technically known as the Ethereum Virtual Machine, or EVM) because it works beyond the payment method or the value store, which Bitcoin does. The EVM environment enables developers to build customized applications across the board, from social media to games to banking, such as an app store that can be controlled by Apple or Google.
Vitalik Buterin built Ethereum as for him, Bitcoin’s scripting language was very limited in functionality. Buterin published Ethereum's first white paper later in 2013, defining a distributed computing platform for smart contracts and building classified applications (dApps). In 2014, Buterin and other early participants established the Ethereum Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to Ethereum research, core protocol development, and ecosystem growth. The primary function of the foundation was to manage the Ethereum crowd sale, which raised 31,529 BTC (~ $18 million at the time) in exchange for about 60 million ether and used available funds to fund the initial development of the network.
Buterin compared Bitcoin to a pocket calculator that "does one thing right," while saying that Ethereum is like a smartphone with many apps to use. That is the core of Ethereum. Like Bitcoin, it is built on blockchain technology - actually, a distributed computer network that records all cryptocurrency activities. But people can build apps on top of Ethereum, which is not possible in Bitcoin.
Ethereum represents a blockchain with the built-in programming language of Turing. Provides a modest background that allows anyone to create their own copyright laws, job formats, and transformation functions. This is done by involving smart contracts, a set of confidential rules that apply only if certain conditions are met.
Ethereum network compatibility is based on the modified GHOST protocol (Self-Sensitive Timber Tree). Designed to address the issue of older blocks in the network. Older blocks can occur if one group of miners integrated into a mining pool has more computing power than the others, which means that blocks from the original pool will contribute significantly to the network, thus creating the issue of centralization. The GHOST protocol incorporates those older blocks into statistics for the longest series.
Some real-world use cases of Ethereum are:
Decentralized Finance (DeFi): Decentralized finance applications, or "DeFi," are among the most promising real-world applications for Ethereum. This involves the creation of stablecoins, loans backed by smart contracts, and decentralized exchanges.
In payments: Commerce is the foundation of the global economy, and Ethereum has the potential to significantly change that by allowing so-called "smart contracts" to be established on Ethereum.
Currently, there are more than 3,000 projects running on the Ethereum blockchain, some of them are:
| Compound | Decentraland | Orion Protocol | Curve Finance |
| Wrapped Bitcoin | Unstoppable Domains | Balancer | 1inch |
| Aave | Kyber Network | renBTC | The Sandbox |
| Uniswap | Open Sea | Aleph.im | Brave |
| MakerDAO | Status | InfiNFT | DeversiFi |
| Chainlink | Sushiswap | Matcha | Chromia |
| Axie Infinity | Livepeer | Loopring Pay | Tether |
| DATE | NEWS/EVENTS | IMPACT |
| 05/11/2022 | OFAC compliance brings Ethereum further closer to total censorship | -33% Decrease |
| 15/09/2022 | Numerous Ethereum traders were engaged in short selling during the merger | -23% Decrease |
| 15/07/2022 | Ethereum's developers confirm the perpetual date of The Merge | +32% Increase |
| 13/06/2022 | Ethereum's price suddenly drops to $950 on Uniswap as whale dumps 93,000 ETH | -31% Decrease |
| 05/05/2022 | Terra LUNA crash sparks caution in the crypto market | -23% Decrease |
| 18/01/2022 | Crypto.com User Accounts Breached by Hackers, ETH Worth $15 Million Stolen From Exchange | -24% Decrease |
| 05/08/2021 | Ethereum has just launched a major transformation called the ‘London hard fork’ - which is why it is such a big deal | +31% Increase |
| 19/05/2021 | China has barred financial institutions and payment companies from providing any services related to cryptocurrency transactions | -40% Decrease |
| 27/04/2021 | European Investment Bank Issues $ 121M Digital Notes Using Ethereum | +28% Increase |
Ethereum is a technology that completely changes the way transactions are made. Thanks to smart Contracts, it is possible to change all existing contracts in order to improve performance security, limit costs, and distribute the land. Apps are almost limitless and we are still in their initial phase.
When talking about usage and development, Ethereum is more mature with a higher transaction value than Bitcoin. We can safely believe that Ethereum will continue to grow and remain one of the biggest players in the market because more than 50% of the top 200 projects in terms of market money are spent on Ethereum. In the next few years, Ethereum could be bigger than Bitcoin and accepted for use by big organizations like Google and Facebook. This is due to its wide range of applications.
