Ethereum
Ethereum is a decentralized open source blockchain-based distributed computing platform, featuring smart contract (scripting) functionality. It provides a cryptocurrency token called “ether”, which can be transferred between accounts and used to compensate participant nodes for computations performed. Ethereum was proposed in late 2013 by Vitalik Buterin, who was then just 19 years old. The development of Ethereum started in early 2014 through the Swiss company ETH Zurich with funding from various sources including Bitcoin Magazine and the Web3 Foundation. In July 2015, Homestead version 0 went live as the first production release of Ethereum following two pre-release versions Frontier and Olympic released earlier that year.
The purpose behind developing Ethereum was to create an environment where applications could run exactly as programmed without any possibility of fraud or third party interference such as downtime or censorship due to its use of cryptography on public/private key infrastructure combined with consensus mechanisms like proof-of-work (PoW). This allows developers to build trustless applications that are resistant against malicious activities while providing users guaranteed access even if one part fails; this concept is referred to as “trustless computing” or “decentralized application” (dApp).
As ether tokens are required for operating within this network they have become popular amongst those wanting access into it – either speculating on its price movements using digital currency exchanges like Coinbase Pro or Binance, creating new dApps built upon its protocol layer, trading assets stored on evm compatible wallets such as Trust Wallet & Metamask etc.. By extension many also view ethereum’s native cryptocurrency ‘ether'(ETH),as an attractive investment opportunity given their scarcity relative other crypto coins making them more likely appreciate over time – although past performance isn’t necessarily indicative future returns so caution should still always exercised when investing cryptocurrencies generally!
