







You may have heard of Ethereum and wondered what it is all about. It’s a type of cryptocurrency platform that has been in its evolution since 2013. This new form of compensation is becoming more popular as an electronic means of providing rewards for goods or services received. The Ethereum platform is open source so it is available to the public. It’s based on the blockchain method and offers a virtual machine capable of executive scrips through the use of an internal network of public nodes. In addition, ti provides tokens which are a form of cryptocurrecy.The tokens are called “ether.” You could look at is as money if you prefer, because it has a similar, although not exact value. If you’re not familiar with the development of cryptocurrency platforms, the entire process can seem complicated, but it may pay to become informed as it’s catching on fast and it may be something worth your consideration. Here are ten things that you didn’t know about Ethereum.





1. Ethereum was financed through crowdfunding

Vitalik Buterin is a cryptocurrency researcher as well as bitcoin programmer. He had the idea for Ethereum towards the end of 2013, but lacked the resources to turn his idea into a reality. As many creators do these days, he turned to a type of crowdfunding program to get the capital that was needed to further develop the program and begin distribution. His project was successful on the online crowd sale in July through August of 2014. The program was completed and deliverable by July 30 of 2015.





2. Ethereum is making impressive progress in development

The Ethereum Alliance, known as EEA is the collaboration of a variety of blockchain start-ups. It is also joined by Fortune 500 companies and research groups. It’s a non-profit organization that is comprised of 116 members in the enterprise. The organization was developed to coordinate the further development, distribution and use of the permissioned version of the Ethereum blockchain across the industries.





3. Ethereum is backed by big business

Some of the top corporations in the world have joined the EEA and support its’ further development. Some of the more prominent companies include Samsung SDS, Toyota Research Institute, Banco Santander, Microsoft, J.P. Morgan, Merck GaA, Intel, Deloitte, DTCC, ING, Accenture, ConsenSys, Bank of Canada and BNY Mellon.





4. Security is a current concern

Any time you’re dealing with a cryptocurrency system, security is a top priority. Although extreme measures have been taken to shore the integrity and safeguard to platform from intruders, hackers are constantly working to penetrate the safety mechanisms and gain access for their own gain. As of now, there have been no incidences and the company is vigilant in maintaining safety standards and upgrading them accordingly.





5. Change will be the constant for Ethereum

Some members of the EEA have indicated that there is a need to continue investigation of hybrid architectures that would possible anchor private blockchains to the public Ethereum blockchain. This would assist in the further expansion of the platform, more easily adding additional blockchains that would promote, potential exponential growth. These are their plans for the future of the platform.





6. The EEA is concerned about compliance

Because this type of environment is constantly changing, there is concern that growing the platform and including additional anchors of blockchains would result in compliance issues. The real concern comes with the inclusion of Permissioned and Permissionless blockchains when making the bridge. There is still much work to be done by the research organizations involved as well as by the engineers who create the blueprints that will orchestrate the behaviors of the platform.





7. Enterprises to be addressed

The EEA is working on the establishment of open source reference standards along with private “permissioned” versions of the blockchain that will cover a variety of interested enterprises for baking, automotive, consulting, management, health, technology, pharmaceutical, entertainment, mobile, and other industries. Developers of the Ethereum ecosystem are currently involved in the discussions and plans for moving ahead on these projects.





8. Ethereum began as a paper

When Vitalik Buterin first had the vision for the Ethereum platform, He described it in a white paper. He brings to the table a lot of experience in the Bitcoin industry, in fact, he’s served as a programmer. He started out with a gold for building decentralized applications.





9. Buterin had to fight to get his way

Vitalik Buterin initially had the argument that Bitcoin required a scripting language in order to develop an application. There was disagreement among the core Ethereum team and although there was opposition to his idea, he sought to develop a new platform that would include scripting language which was more general. The project began in 2014 through the Ethereum Switzerland company, a non-profit foundation.





10. Scaleability was a real concern

Ethereum has shown the world that the use of digital currency can work very well. In it’s initial development, the technological developments were so impressive that they yielded a plethora of praise and support, but the EEA still had concerns about the scaleability of the platform. From what we’ve previously touched on, the concerns with various aspects of vulnerability created through expansion are currently being studied by multiple groups of top notch professionals who are on the problems before they even begin.





James Hamilton: Ethereum - Mastering Investment

Available on Kindle for FREE - https://goo.gl/jnfD8m



