This week’s Crypto Corner will take a look into the second most popular cryptocurrency, Ether (ETH), and the technology behind it, Ethereum. The concept of Ethereum was initially outlined in a white paper released in 2013 by the then-19-year-old programmer, Vitalik Buterin. It officially launched in 2015.
With Ethereum, Buterin set out to create a new-and-improved Bitcoin - not so much to compete with it, but rather to continue the spirit of innovation established by the already-infamous cryptocurrency. He realised that the underlying distributed ledger technology used to host Bitcoin could be adapted and used for other purposes, in addition to powering decentralised payment networks. With this in mind, Ethereum was developed not only to support its own native digital currency, ETH, but to allow third-party applications to run on its network. The focus was not just on decentralising money, as is the case with Bitcoin, but potentially a whole host of things.
The most notable distinction between the two technologies is that the Ethereum blockchain is programmable - it is essentially an open-source software platform enabling users to create decentralised applications (‘dApps’) upon it. This means that companies can choose to run their projects or services on Ethereum without any one central entity controlling or maintaining it - whether it be cryptocurrency wallets, financial applications, or even games.
So, where does ETH come in? ETH doesn’t aim to establish itself as an alternative digital currency or store of value. Instead, its purpose is to facilitate and monetise the operation of Ethereum’s smart contract-based software platform - with ETH, you can create a smart contract.
And smart contracts, which are programmed, auto-executing agreements recorded on the Ethereum blockchain, are what are used to create dApps.
Needless to say, the technology brings with it plenty of benefits. Aside from security and scalability, Ethereum’s ‘blocks’ (transaction records) can be created in mere seconds (as opposed to minutes with Bitcoin), significantly cutting down on transaction time.
Almost five years down the line and Ethereum is still regarded as one of the pioneers of digital currency. With its general-purpose blockchain still the main appeal for many and an imminent 2.0 upgrade on the cards, it’s not surprising that ETH has established itself as the world’s most successful altcoin.
ETH Competition
Since we’re focusing on Ether this week, we’ve decided to throw a little competition on our Twitter and Instagram channels! All you have to do is go to our latest posts on Twitter and Instagram to see the full details on how to enter.* That’s it. We will then award 1 lucky, randomly-selected user with a 0.25 ETH bonus into their Wirex Ether account.
- For full entry details, entrants must check the associated Twitter and Instagram posts.
- The competition closes on (13.06.2020 11:59PM BST).
- Winners must be a verified user with an activated Wirex Ether account.
- One winner will be chosen.
- Winner will have 0.25 ETH funded into their Wirex Ether account.
- We will announce the winners on our community forum in this post on 17.06.2020.
- Once the winner is contacted, the winner will have to provide the requested details within 48 hours to claim their prize. Otherwise another winner will be chosen.
- We will award the Ether to the winner once they have been contacted in approximately 7-12 working days time.
- This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or associated with, Instagram or Twitter.
NOW CLOSED
AND THE WINNER IS
@jjeeppeerrxx
