What is Ethereum? | The Ultimate Beginners’ Guide
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Ethereum is an open-source blockchain-based platform that essentially enables hundreds of decentralized cryptocurrencies and projects to be built and deployed without having to build their own blockchains.
With the second largest market cap in the cryptocurrency world, Ethereum has drawn a lot of attention from investors and crypto enthusiasts alike.
Ethereum not only presents a significant change to the status quo, it also allows for the quick development and deployment of new applications presenting niche solutions for various industries.
While Ethereum’s utility is obvious to programmers and the tech world at large, many people who are less tech-savvy have trouble understanding it. We’ve designed this guide to appeal to both crowds and expose anyone from complete crypto beginners and intermediates to this potentially world-changing cryptocurrency.
Ethereum vs. Bitcoin
If you’re interested in Ethereum, chances are you have some sort of foundational knowledge of Bitcoin.
All cryptocurrencies inevitably get compared to Bitcoin, and it frankly makes understanding them much easier.
Bitcoin launched in 2009 as the world’s first cryptocurrency, with the single goal of creating a decentralized universal currency. This currency would not require any intermediary financial institutions, but would still ensure safe and valid transactions. This was made possible by a revolutionary technology called the “blockchain.”
The blockchain is a digital ledger, continuously recording and verifying records. It’s used to track and verify Bitcoin transactions. Since the global network of communicating nodes maintains the blockchain, it’s pretty much incorruptible. As new blocks are added to the network, they are constantly validated.
Similar to Bitcoin, Ethereum is a distributed public blockchain network. While both Ethereum and Bitcoin are cryptocurrencies that can be traded among users, there are many substantial differences between the two.
Bitcoin, for example, utilizes blockchain to track ownership of the digital currency, making it an extremely effective peer to peer electronic cash system. Ethereum, on the other hand, focuses on running the programming code of an application. Application developers largely use it to pay for services and transaction fees on the Ethereum network.
Both Bitcoin and Ethereum are “decentralized,” meaning they have no central control or issuing authority. Respective miners run each network by validating transactions to earn either bitcoin (for Bitcoin) or ether (for Ethereum).
If you’re still having trouble making the distinction, the words of Dr. Gavin Wood—one of Ethereum’s Co-Founders—might help:
Bitcoin is first and foremost a currency; this is one particular application of a blockchain. However, it is far from the only application. To take a past example of a similar situation, e-mail is one particular use of the internet, and for sure helped popularise it, but there are many others.
Ethereum is simply the application of blockchain technology for a completely different purpose.