What is Ethereum? Ethereum is a global, decentralized platform for money and new kinds of applications as defined by Wikipedia. Like Bitcoin, Ethereum is a cryptocurrency using the blockchain technology.

Ether (ETH) as it is widely known is an open source, public, blockchain-based distributed computing platform and operating system featuring smart contract functionality.

The supply of ETH isn’t controlled by any government or company — it is decentralized, and it is scarce. People all over the world use ETH to make payments, as a store of value, or as collateral. But unlike other blockchains, Ethereum can do much more. Ethereum is programmable, which means that developers can use it to build new kinds of applications.

Ethereum Trading: To start Ethereum trading, you must have an Ethereum wallet. There are several different types of wallets: a desktop application, a mobile/web app, you can use a hardware wallet as well as a wallet provided by a cryptocurrency exchange. There are official Ethereum wallets available for download at Ethereum.org.

Using a desktop, mobile or online wallet is a more secure option, as it provides users with full control over their funds. There are still some precautionary security measures that need to be taken. Most importantly, you should keep your wallet’s password, which is called a ‘private key,’ a secret. Moreover, if you lose or forget it, there will be no way of accessing your wallet ever again, and whatever funds you’ve had there will be essentially lost. Finally, setting up a two-factor authentication to access your wallet would also be a good idea.

Buying Ether: First of all, you will need to register with an exchange. Before doing so, make sure it operates in the country you live in and accepts the currency you wish to trade in.

The registration process will require submitting a few general personal details. Often, there are full identity checks. This is done in compliance with Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations. After passing all the necessary checks, you will need to choose a deposit method.

Depending on a particular exchange, there are various ways of doing so. As soon as the funds are in your exchange account, you can start trading.

Selling Ether: The process of selling Ether on an exchange works similarly to buying it. First of all, you need to choose an exchange (e.g. BuyCoins, iDeyPay or Binance) that operates within your jurisdiction and trades Ether and set up an account with it.

In order to be able to sell, you will be required to connect your existing bank account and provide some additional information. Navigate the website in search of a ‘sell,’ ‘deposit’ or ‘deposit into exchange’ button. Here you will find your new wallet’s address. Simply send the required amount of Ether from where it’s kept in the new wallet, the transfer will happen almost instantaneously. There’s an option to sell your Ether directly through a peer-to-peer exchange.

ERC 20 and other terms

ERC20 token: ERC20 is an official protocol for proposing improvements to the Ethereum (ETH) network. ERC stands for Ethereum Request for Comment, and 20 is the proposal identifier. This is a common standard for creating tokens on the Ethereum blockchain.

ERC20 is an official protocol for proposing improvements to the Ethereum (ETH) network. ERC stands for Ethereum Request for Comment, and 20 is the proposal identifier. This is a common standard for creating tokens on the Ethereum blockchain. An ERC20 token is a blockchain-based asset with similar functionality to bitcoin, ether, and bitcoin cash: it can hold value and be sent and received. ERC20 tokens are stored and sent using Ethereum addresses and transactions, and use gas (smallest type of work that is processed on the Ethereum network) to cover transaction fees.

*Ethereum and Ethereum Token: Tokens often get called digital coin. Tokens are created on existing blockchains. The most common blockchain token platform are Ethereum. Tokens that are built on the Ethereum platform are known as ERC-20 tokens.

Smart Contracts: Smart contracts are applications that run on the Ethereum Virtual Machine. This is a decentralized “world computer” where the computing power is provided by all those Ethereum nodes. Any nodes providing computing power are paid for that resource in Ether tokens. They’re named smart contracts because you can write “contracts” that are automatically executed when the requirements are met.

Smart contracts can be used for many different things. Developers can create smart contracts that could simply be used as an application to store information on the Ethereum blockchain or similar to how software libraries work. To actually execute smart contract code, someone has to send enough Ether (Ether is the coin and Ethereum is the platform) as a transaction fee — how much depends on the computing resources required. This pays the Ethereum nodes for participating and providing their computing power.

*Dapps: There are hundreds of decentralized applications (dapps) built on Ethereum that you can use today. Here are just a few apps built on Ethereum.

*Gitcoin, a network of incentivized open-source developers

*CryptoKitties, a game where you collect and breed digital collectible cats

*Cent, a social network where you can earn money by posting

*DAI, a stable cryptocurrency that holds value at $1 USD