Blockchain technology, the distributed ledger system that underpins the digital currency Bitcoin, is getting a lot of attention from Wall Street lately. With uses ranging from cross-border payments to settlements and clearing of over-the-counter derivatives to streamlining back office processes, the potential for disruption in the financial industry and elsewhere is growing more real each day. While bitcoin is the most widely used and well known use case of blockchain, Ethereum may be the killer app that allows for this disruption to finally take place.
The token native to the Ether (ETH), has recently risen to over $10 per ETH, and the market capitalization of all ether is nearly $800 million, making it the second most valuable blockchain behind bitcoin (which represents approximately $6.5 billion of value).
What is Ethereum and why is it interesting? Ethereum was developed to augment and improve on bitcoin, expanding its capabilities. Importantly, it was developed to feature prominently “smart contracts:” decentralized, self-executing agreements coded into the blockchain itself. Ethereum was first proposed version in 2015. Its blockchain is built with a turing-complete scripting language that can simultaneously run such smart contracts across all nodes and achieve verifiable consensus without the need for a trusted third party such as a court, judge or legal system. According to its website Ethereum can be used to “codify, decentralize, secure and trade just about anything.” In late 2014, Ethereum raised over $18 million in bitcoin by way of a crowd sale to fund its development.Is Ethereum More Important Than Bitcoin?
What is Ethereum and why is it interesting? Ethereum was developed to augment and improve on bitcoin, expanding its capabilities. Importantly, it was developed to feature prominently “smart contracts:” decentralized, self-executing agreements coded into the blockchain itself. Ethereum was first proposed version in 2015. Its blockchain is built with a turing-complete scripting language that can simultaneously run such smart contracts across all nodes and achieve verifiable consensus without the need for a trusted third party such as a court, judge or legal system. According to its website Ethereum can be used to “codify, decentralize, secure and trade just about anything.” In late 2014, Ethereum raised over $18 million in bitcoin by way of a crowd sale to fund its development.Is Ethereum More Important Than Bitcoin?
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