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.
Milestones of the Ethereum development roadmap
The original development roadmap laid out before Ethereum went live specified the following milestones:
- Prerelease Step 0: Olympic testnet - launched May 2015
- Release Step One: Frontier - launched 30 July 2015
- Release Step Two: Homestead - launches 14 March 2016 (Pi Day)
- Release Step Three: Metropolis - TBA
- Release Step Four: Serenity - TBA
While still valid, the substance behind it has changed somewhat. The Olympic testnet phase (before the Frontier release) saw alot of major improvements, followed by Frontier which was launched immediately after. Homestead marks the exit from a beta product to a stable release. Homestead is introduced automatically at block number 1,150,000 which should occur roughly around March 14th, 2016, Pi Day.
Web3
Many have come to believe that an open, trustless blockchain platform like Ethereum is perfectly suited to serve as the shared “back end” to a decentralized, secure internet - Web 3.0. An internet where core services like DNS and digital identity are decentralized, and where individuals can engage in economic interactions with each other.
Ethereum vs Bitcoin
See also