Ethereum is an open and decentralized blockchain platform that lets anyone build and use decentralized applications (a.k.a DAPP) and smart contracts using a crypto asset called Ether.
Smart contracts are applications that run exactly as programmed without any possibility of downtime, censorship, fraud or third party interference. The project was crowdfunded during August 2014 by fans all around the world. It is developed by the Ethereum Foundation, a Swiss nonprofit, with contributions from great minds across the globe.
History
Ethereum was initially described in a white paper by Russian canadian Vitalik Buterin, a programmer and writer involved with Bitcoin, in late 2013 with a goal of building decentralized applications. As opposed to other bitcoin inspired projects, Ethereum created its own blockchain to provide greater development flexibility by inclusion of a Turing complete programming language. Ethereum's live blockchain was launched on 30 July 2015.
See also