What is Ethereum?

Ethereum is a global decentralized platform for executing smart contracts on a public blockchain. It effectively employs the same technology as Bitcoin but serves a different purpose: while Bitcoin is used for accounting and transferring value, Ethereum aims to support the deployment of decentralized applications (DApps).

What are smart contracts?

Smart contracts represent an important innovation that promises to revolutionize different areas of life in society. They are contracts between parties that are established in computer code and are executed reliably, with no third-party intervention.

Their potential is growing. Platforms such as Ethereum provide an environment where developers can leverage these tools and create decentralized applications. Unlike today's most popular applications, a DApp is not hosted on a unique server, but runs on a distributed computing system.

Ether (ETH)

The usage of the Ethereum blockchain, like an arcade, requires the use of a token for network fees. It’s called Ether (ETH).

The processing power that a transaction requires on the network is calculated in a unit of account called "gas", the price of which is variable according to network congestion and the miners' ability to process transactions. The level of gas required for a transaction, multiplied by the price set for that gas will determine the amount to be paid in ETH for it.

Origins

Ethereum was created in 2014, six years after the emergence of Bitcoin, and its co-founder, Russian programmer Vitalik Buterin, is one of its most visible faces.

Since that date, the price of its token, Ether (ETH), has attracted the attention of users, investors, and companies, due to the potential of the network to host multiple applications that today are run on the centralized web, as well as many other processes that today are carried out in the physical world and require trust or intermediaries for their completion.