Programmable crypto with smart contracts and apps
1) Ethereum is a world computer running on nodes distributed worldwide. It runs on a blockchain
secured by miners executing a Proof of Work consensus algorithm, with plans to move to a Proof of
Stake consensus algorithm.
2) Ether (ETH) is the currency which is used to run smart contracts
on the Ethereum platform. Ethereum provides the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) a decentralized
Turing-complete virtual machine. “Gas”, an internal transaction pricing mechanism, is used to mitigate
spam and allocate resources on the network.
3) Ethereum was proposed by Vitalik
Buterin in 2013 and the public network went live in in July 2015. The average blocktime in
Ethereum is about 15-20 seconds.