No.002
Ethereum ETH
often called the โworld computerโ
๐ญ the wizard building a world computer, put anything on top of the blockchain
๐ฌ โBitcoin keeps the money safe. My job is to make the money do things.โ
- A smart-contract platform. The network went live in July 2015.
- You write a little program, put it on the chain, and it runs by itself. Tokens, DeFi, and NFTs were all born here.
- On 15 September 2022 it swapped out mining for staking (the Merge) and its power use collapsed by roughly 99.95%.
๐ The Story
This is a chronicle, so let's tell it the way a saga is told: by its dated chapters.
Chapter one. Late 2013. A teenager named Vitalik Buterin writes a short paper. His complaint is simple. Bitcoin can hold money beautifully, but it can barely do anything with it. What if a blockchain could run programs too? People called the idea a โworld computerโ, and most of them assumed it would never ship.
Chapter two. 30 July 2015. It ships. The network goes live, and now anyone can place a smart contract (a tiny program that runs by itself once its conditions are met) onto it. No bank, no permission, no off switch. Builders pour in. Tokens appear, then lending markets, then digital art that lives on-chain. A whole economy grows on a machine nobody owns.
Chapter three. 15 September 2022. The riskiest chapter of all. For years Ethereum ran on mining, which burned electricity by the city's worth. On this day it cut over to staking instead, taking turns by the coins you lock up (PoS), an upgrade nicknamed the Merge. The swap happened live, mid-flight, without ever stopping the network. Energy use fell by about 99.95% overnight. The saga isn't finished, of course. That's rather the point of a world computer.
๐ Stats
๐งฉ How it works
Ethereum lets you put smart contracts (programs that run automatically when conditions are met) on the blockchain. That's why it's called the 'world computer', countless services like tokens, DeFi, and NFTs run on top of it.
๐ Light & Shadow
- The biggest builder community in crypto lives here, so the newest ideas tend to land here first
- If you've used DeFi, an NFT, or a random new token, odds are it was running on Ethereum
- Since the 2022 Merge it runs on staking, using around 99.95% less power than before
- When the network is crowded, the fee to use it (called โgasโ) can spike
- There's more going on under the hood than Bitcoin, so it's a bit harder to grasp at first
- Unlike Bitcoin's fixed 21 million, ETH has no hard supply cap
๐งญ Meet other friends
โ FAQ
- What is Ethereum?
- A blockchain platform for smart contracts (self-running programs), serving as the base for tokens, DeFi, NFTs, and many other services.
- How is it different from Bitcoin?
- Bitcoin focuses mainly on storing value and payments, while Ethereum is a 'platform' you can put programs (apps) on top of.
- Where can I buy Ethereum?
- It's listed on most major exchanges, such as Coinbase, Kraken, or Binance. (Information only, not a recommendation.)
โ ๏ธ Not investment advice. All figures are for information only.