Ethereum – the cryptocurrency of the future
Actually, Ethereum is more than just another cryptocurrency — it is a full-fledged electronic payment system working with the cryptocurrency especially developed for decentralized applications and smart contracts. However, its developers claim that Ethereum should be considered as a "social operation system".
Ethereum was created in 2013 by an incredibly smart young man Vitaly who was born in Russia but then moved to Canada with his family. Vitaly was only 20 when a brilliant idea came to his mind. Inspired with Bitcoins Vitaly wanted to change the entire Internet and let people create cryptocurrency themselves. One could say that it's a utopian dream but Vitaly has managed to turn it into reality.
In general terms Ethereum combines and unites blockchain — a decentralized technology — and Turing complete programming language. Ethereum thus enables to create a vast number of various applications for different tasks and purposes.
Advantages of Ethereum
Just like Bitcoin Ethereum does not have any emission center. It is deprived of management center too — processing, storage and emission are done on a user's computer. Such a system reminds protozoa who have lots of neural ganglions with what we call "brain". That is a very simple and therefore ingenious solution. Finally, it's much harder to break something that is simple, isn't it? No one likes things that are too complicated.
Ethereum is kind of an internal cryptocurrency. People can use it for transferring various information like domain names, election results, agreements, contracts etc. Synergy is the key idea of Ethereum — when you launch Maker it immediately integrates with many other Ethereum solutions like Digix, Stock etc.
Ethereum is an incredibly stable and well-established platform. It's open and transparent but at the same time it guarantee proper security to all users — you don't have to be afraid of fraud and cheating.
All Ethereum applications run on the platform-specific cryptographic token — Ether. Ether is used for two main purposes. Firstly, it is a cryptocurrency which is traded online. It's also used in Ethereum environment to monetize work and run applications.
Ethereum is a very convenient tool for people who make exchange deals and let them stay at the very top of the new cryptocurrency system — Ethereum is still young, it constantly develops and evolves. Ethereum allows to register any deals on the basis of blockchain and to therefore avoid legal formalities.
There are many more advantages of Ethereum:
- Ethereum is going to have much better scaling than Bitcoin (it can be scaled both up and down)
- Regular updating
- Transparency
- The highest level of security
- Availability
- Expandability
- Opportunity for mono-mining
- It's easy to buy this cryptocurrency at any open cryptocurrency exchange platform
By the way, Vitaly Buterin — the creator — says that Ethereum has two main advantages which could be attractive for everyone — versatility and simplicity. Vitaly is sure that developers will have no problems with creating new software products based on Ethereum. He has no doubts that even amateurs can easily create software since the largest amount of work is already done.
One of most significant innovations offered by Ethereum is the possibility to create programs which will let people make deals automatically, without bookmakers and other intermediaries. For instance, you may make a program which will send a certain amount of money to a certain account after something happens — let's say, Real wins against Barcelona. Isn't that great? Just imagine how much time can be said for people playing the tote or work with derivatives.
Impressive results
By the end of the first quarter of 2016 there were already several dozens of fully functioning applications based on Ethereum platform — decentralized software, decentralized autonomous organizations, smart contracts and so forth.
Some people are rather skeptical about all of that — they suppose that Ethereum is a project and cryptocurrency with unpredictable future. Some critics note that Ethereum is too "young" to be considered as a good investment project, but there are thousands of enthusiasts who have already appreciated new cryptocurrency and the opportunities it provides.
There was something like a small IPO in the beginning of Ethereum when its creators started selling their cryptocurrency. They had a simple purpose — to find money for further development. It's hard to believe but they earned more than $15 million on that. It means that people believed in Ethereum from the very beginning and such a start is really inspiring.
Ethereum vs. Bitcoin
Well, let's be honest — Ethereum cannot compete with Bitcoin, however it will have to do it in some ways. While Bitcoin is mainly a cryptocurrency Ethereum is something much larger. Some experts think that Ethereum creators have quite lofty agenda — they are planning to change the entire world of cryptocurrencies, rebuild it from the beginning and create some kind of "Lego of the crypto financial world".
The guys from Bitcoin are quite optimistic and even well-minded towards Ethereum. They don't believe in serious competition and frankly say that there are lots of altcoins today. They come and go, so there's no sense to make any conclusions until Ethereum gets really global.
Ether is rather attractive cryptocurrency for investing — currently more and more users do it. Anyway, Ethereum remains a risky asset. The moment of truth hasn't come yet, but it will probably come in the nearest future. We will see how it goes for Ethereum developers within the next year and if this new crypto financial platform is capable of making a new revolution. Even if it's not, there is nothing bad in just being an interesting and constantly evolving project. Ethereum has great chances to grow into something tremendous which will open a new page of the history or cryptocurrencies and online business.
