Co-creator of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin was one of the key speakers at TechCrunch Disrupt for this year, which was held in San Francisco about a week ago. He was asked to describe in his own words what Ethereum is to the average person, Buterin characterized a blockchain from the point of view of the individuals who understand it’s current most prominent use – in digital currencies, particularly Bitcoin

Buterin said that a blockchain can keep track of how much money a person has at any given time — or what he calls “cryptoeconomics.” But, while that’s the initial use of a blockchain, Buterin and his colleagues have found that such a decentralized system of keeping tabs on transaction records can extend to a far wider range of applications. He calls this “general purpose watching,” and it’s at the heart of what Ethereum is.

“The core idea behind Ethereum is: you can have a general purpose watching,” Buterin explained to the individuals present at Disrupt SF. “We can have a blockchain where instead of a blockchain working like a Swiss army knife where you have five different tools for five different categories of applications, you have a blockchain that understands general-purpose programming language.”

Without a doubt, Ethereum is thought to be the world’s foremost enterprise blockchain, with applications that reach out past just digital currencies. Ethereum has discovered use in shipping, manufacturing and even in the music industry. Ethereum’s applications keep on expanding, including the likelihood of replacing credit cards, a mass adoption that could disrupt most of today’s businesses

Watch the full interview here: