Ethereum is a blockchain that uses its virtual machine to facilitate scripting and the building of decentralized applications and ‘smart contracts’ (EVM). Ether (ETH), Ethereum’s native token, is a cryptocurrency that is used to pay for the processing power of the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) in order to run smart contracts or other Dapps, a process known as ‘gas.’ On Ethereum, smart contracts have been utilized for everything from issuing ICO tokens to forming full decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs).
EVM Technology
Ethereum was created to complement and improve bitcoin, allowing it to grow its capabilities. Importantly, it was created with “smart contracts” in mind: decentralized, self-executing agreements coded directly into the blockchain. Ethereum may be used to “codify, decentralize, secure, and trade just about anything,” according to its website. Ethereum raised over $18 million in bitcoin through a crowd sale in late 2014 to help fund its development. The ‘Ethereum Virtual Machine’ (EVM) can run smart contracts that reflect financial agreements like options contracts, swaps, and coupon-paying bonds.
Ethereum and DApps
Smart contracts might serve as the foundation for fully decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) that operate like firms, buying and selling goods, hiring employees, negotiating deals, balancing budgets, and optimizing profits without the need for human or institutional interference. If enterprises are viewed as a complicated web of contracts and duties of variable sizes and scope, then DAOs might be written into Ethereum. This opens the door to a slew of new and exciting possibilities, such as liberated machines that own themselves and individuals that are directly employed by software.
Ether is the internal coin of the Ethereum ecosystem, and it is used to settle the outcomes of smart contracts conducted within the protocol. Ether may be mined for and traded with bitcoin or fiat currencies like US Dollars on cryptocurrency exchanges, and it can also be used to pay for the computational effort put in by nodes on its blockchain.
While decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) are a concept that will be realized in the future, decentralized applications (dApps) are now being created for Ethereum. These stand-alone applications run on the EVM and use smart contracts. dApps are distinguished by the fact that they operate on a decentralized network and are enforced without the intervention of a central authority or supervisor. The Ethereum blockchain can disintermediate any multi-party application that now relies on a central server. Chat, gaming, shopping, and banking could all be included in the future.
Bitcoin & Bottom Line
Ethereum may accomplish for applications of all shapes and sizes what Bitcoin did for money and payments by leveraging blockchain technology. Smart contracts may be constructed using a built-in scripting language and distributed virtual machine to perform a wide range of functions without the requirement for a trusted third party or central authority. Nodes can be paid for their processing power in operating these decentralized apps using its internal coin, ether, and eventually, complete decentralized autonomous enterprises may emerge in an ether economy.