I write articles about doing cool stuff with , but I have found that some people have no idea what I’m talking about. If you have stumbled across one of my articles and asked yourself “what the hell is Ethereum?”, congratulations — you are the audience I wanted to reach! So I’m going to take a minute to describe what this weird technology is and what it can do for you. Ethereum exactly Technical explanation If you’re here, I’m going to guess you’re a fairly technical person. Below is a description of what Ethereum is from a technical perspective. Cryptocurrencies I’m guessing you’ve heard of and other . If you haven’t, you should check them out because I suspect you will find the topic interesting. Bitcoin cryptocurrencies Ethereum is, broadly speaking, a peer-to-peer network that is an of a cryptocurrency network. extension So, while I would define a cryptocurrency network (e.g. ) as: Bitcoin a peer-to-peer network leveraging a data structure called a to enable creation and transmission of digital scarcity blockchain Ethereum is more like a peer-to-peer network leveraging a data structure called a to enable creation and transmission of digital scarcity blockchain as well as a public, global state of arbitrary data that can be updated with a Turing-complete instruction set The key difference between Ethereum and most other networks like Bitcoin is in the way that the global network state is represented and operated on. cryptocurrency UTXO vs EVM Bitcoin’s state is very simple: it is a large set of things called (UTXOs). The global set of UTXOs tells you the bitcoin balance of every address in the Bitcoin network. This global state is updated whenever a transaction is , moving bitcoins from one user to another. It is important to note that because the entire state of Bitcoin is a set of UTXOs, there are no “users” per se — just addresses that hold bitcoins. unspent transaction outputs processed Ethereum’s state is much more complicated because it can be operated on with a more robust set of OP_CODES that make up the (EVM). This instruction set is actually Turing complete, with each instruction . To allow for this setup, Ethereum uses to represent users. Accounts and data are each subsets of the overall that makes up the Ethereum network. Ethereum Virtual Machine priced differently accounts global state What can I do with Ethereum? Cryptocurrencies are emerging as a sort of payment rail for the internet. Any user may move units of digital scarcity (which have real world value determined by ) . This is how the internet was supposed to work — as a free and open platform that anyone may use to connect to anyone else without going through an intermediary. the markets without permission Cryptography ensures that only the user who owns these units of digital scarcity may move them. The power of Ethereum over Bitcoin or anything else in the space comes from its developer friendliness. When it comes to developer tools, Ethereum is the most advanced cryptocurrency technology out there. I have written about how to integrate and how it is actually not as painful as you might think. overwhelmingly Ethereum into a typical web developer workflow So with Ethereum you can easily add any of the following things to your web application: Payments from any user to any other user Payments from a user to you Timestamped, immutable records Password-free logins and automatic user management Your own currency with programmable monetary policy (I haven’t written about this one yet, but it’s coming) Lots of other cool stuff I haven’t thought of The future Ethereum is in its infancy, but it’s growing and maturing very quickly. Many of us in the believe it is the defining technological invention of our generation and that it will affect many (if not all) major industries in a profound way. If you find this stuff interesting, I suggest you do some research. is a good place to start. Hopefully this short article piqued your interest. Ethereum community Here is how hackers start their afternoons. We’re a part of the family. We are now and happy to opportunities. Hacker Noon @AMI accepting submissions discuss advertising & sponsorship To learn more, , , or simply, read our about page like/message us on Facebook tweet/DM @HackerNoon. If you enjoyed this story, we recommend reading our and . Until next time, don’t take the realities of the world for granted! latest tech stories trending tech stories
