What is Ethereum? – Amir Chulan
Ethereum is a global-scale computer that is accessible to everyone anywhere in the world with access to a capable machine and an Internet connection.
After the birth of Bitcoin and its underlying technology that is blockchain, developers and users alike started working with their heads and hands around the said technology. Some users make full use of the technology, while some others strive to further perfect the craft. And then there was Vitalik Buterin.
Due to blockchain’s distributed and immutable nature, Vitalik saw blockchain as something with uses beyond the scope of maintaining financial ledgers online. Vitalik being a programmer himself believes that Bitcoin needed a scripting language for development and later decided to create a new platform altogether to realise this idea of his. An open-source distributed computing platform capable of executing programs. Hence, Ethereum.
With the inception of Ethereum, people can now write and deploy applications on a blockchain with which end users can interact with directly — without third-party service providers. All control of data returned back to their rightful owners and all creative rights back to their creators.
The Ethereum network functions as a decentralised virtual machine that allows scripts to run using a worldwide network of public nodes. What this means is that applications or programs written on the network can run on itself and always as planned. Thus making them incorruptible and not susceptible to human interference.
A simple analogy for how Ethereum works would be to imagine ourselves being in a grocery store. There is a lot of items for sale and all these items were manufactured in a factory elsewhere. They are not manufactured inside the store, obviously, and there are materials from different corners of the world required to manufacture or produce these items. And then when we buy an item, we pay with paper money, which is also not ‘manufactured’ or issued by the store. This conventional system involves a lot of contributing components and could impose a big risk should one of the components were to fail. For example, customers won’t be able to get their vegetables for that day if the vegetable supplier suddenly decides to go on a strike and abandons his job.
Now imagine a very huge grocery store that is able to supply and deliver its products worldwide thanks to an efficient international network of chain outlets. Everything is produced and manufactured inside the store’s compound using materials that the store self-produced. When you buy an item, you pay with a currency issued by this store which is later used to pay the workers that helped you with your experience there. And there are no human workers, everything is automated via codes and applications that will run itself when certain criteria or parameters are met.
All these different components of the second store have their own name. The items on sale are called Decentralised App (DApp), the ‘codes and applications’ are called Smart Contracts while the in-store currency is Ether (ETH). And this decentralised humongous store is called Ethereum.
Ethereum is a global-scale computer that is accessible to everyone anywhere in the world with access to a capable machine and an Internet connection.
After the birth of Bitcoin and its underlying technology that is blockchain, developers and users alike started working with their heads and hands around the said technology. Some users make full use of the technology, while some others strive to further perfect the craft. And then there was Vitalik Buterin.
Due to blockchain’s distributed and immutable nature, Vitalik saw blockchain as something with uses beyond the scope of maintaining financial ledgers online. Vitalik being a programmer himself believes that Bitcoin needed a scripting language for development and later decided to create a new platform altogether to realise this idea of his. An open-source distributed computing platform capable of executing programs. Hence, Ethereum.
With the inception of Ethereum, people can now write and deploy applications on a blockchain with which end users can interact with directly — without third-party service providers. All control of data returned back to their rightful owners and all creative rights back to their creators.
The Ethereum network functions as a decentralised virtual machine that allows scripts to run using a worldwide network of public nodes. What this means is that applications or programs written on the network can run on itself and always as planned. Thus making them incorruptible and not susceptible to human interference.
A simple analogy for how Ethereum works would be to imagine ourselves being in a grocery store. There is a lot of items for sale and all these items were manufactured in a factory elsewhere. They are not manufactured inside the store, obviously, and there are materials from different corners of the world required to manufacture or produce these items. And then when we buy an item, we pay with paper money, which is also not ‘manufactured’ or issued by the store. This conventional system involves a lot of contributing components and could impose a big risk should one of the components were to fail. For example, customers won’t be able to get their vegetables for that day if the vegetable supplier suddenly decides to go on a strike and abandons his job.
Now imagine a very huge grocery store that is able to supply and deliver its products worldwide thanks to an efficient international network of chain outlets. Everything is produced and manufactured inside the store’s compound using materials that the store self-produced. When you buy an item, you pay with a currency issued by this store which is later used to pay the workers that helped you with your experience there. And there are no human workers, everything is automated via codes and applications that will run itself when certain criteria or parameters are met.
All these different components of the second store have their own name. The items on sale are called Decentralised App (DApp), the ‘codes and applications’ are called Smart Contracts while the in-store currency is Ether (ETH). And this decentralised humongous store is called Ethereum.
Ethereum is a global-scale computer that is accessible to everyone anywhere in the world with access to a capable machine and an Internet connection.
After the birth of Bitcoin and its underlying technology that is blockchain, developers and users alike started working with their heads and hands around the said technology. Some users make full use of the technology, while some others strive to further perfect the craft. And then there was Vitalik Buterin.
Due to blockchain’s distributed and immutable nature, Vitalik saw blockchain as something with uses beyond the scope of maintaining financial ledgers online. Vitalik being a programmer himself believes that Bitcoin needed a scripting language for development and later decided to create a new platform altogether to realise this idea of his. An open-source distributed computing platform capable of executing programs. Hence, Ethereum.
With the inception of Ethereum, people can now write and deploy applications on a blockchain with which end users can interact with directly — without third-party service providers. All control of data returned back to their rightful owners and all creative rights back to their creators.
The Ethereum network functions as a decentralised virtual machine that allows scripts to run using a worldwide network of public nodes. What this means is that applications or programs written on the network can run on itself and always as planned. Thus making them incorruptible and not susceptible to human interference.
A simple analogy for how Ethereum works would be to imagine ourselves being in a grocery store. There is a lot of items for sale and all these items were manufactured in a factory elsewhere. They are not manufactured inside the store, obviously, and there are materials from different corners of the world required to manufacture or produce these items. And then when we buy an item, we pay with paper money, which is also not ‘manufactured’ or issued by the store. This conventional system involves a lot of contributing components and could impose a big risk should one of the components were to fail. For example, customers won’t be able to get their vegetables for that day if the vegetable supplier suddenly decides to go on a strike and abandons his job.
Now imagine a very huge grocery store that is able to supply and deliver its products worldwide thanks to an efficient international network of chain outlets. Everything is produced and manufactured inside the store’s compound using materials that the store self-produced. When you buy an item, you pay with a currency issued by this store which is later used to pay the workers that helped you with your experience there. And there are no human workers, everything is automated via codes and applications that will run itself when certain criteria or parameters are met.
All these different components of the second store have their own name. The items on sale are called Decentralised App (DApp), the ‘codes and applications’ are called Smart Contracts while the in-store currency is Ether (ETH). And this decentralised humongous store is called Ethereum.
Published at Wed, 03 Jul 2019 07:33:47 +0000
