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Bitcoin, released by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009, is often considered very radical in the financial world. As the first typical representative of digital assets, Bitcoin is not endorsed by anyone, has no "inherent value", and does not even have a centralized issuer and controller. At the same time, as part of the entire Bitcoin experiment, blockchain technology was used to implement the consensus mechanism of the Bitcoin system. This technology has now received more and more extensive attention. Some of the most frequently cited applications based on blockchain technology include "colored coin" applications that use on-chain assets to replace custom currencies and financial instruments, "smart asset" applications that manage ownership of physical equipment, and more complex applications. Applications include "smart contract" applications that directly control digital assets using code, and "decentralized autonomous organizations" (DAOs) based on blockchain .
Before the emergence of Ethereum, there were already many projects based on blockchain technology that tried to realize the above-mentioned blockchain applications. However, these items can only support one or several specific applications at the same time, and thus have certain limitations. The reason why Ethereum can surpass the limitations of these previous projects is because of its core idea : what Ethereum wants to implement is a blockchain protocol with a built-in programming language, because the programming language is supported, then theoretically any blockchain application can be defined in this language, and then, as an application, run on the blockchain protocol of Ethereum The TCP/IP protocols of the era can be compared to each other). It is not like those projects in the past, which are independent and define their own blockchain protocols, and each protocol only supports one or several specific blockchain applications and is incompatible with each other. Moreover, the blockchain protocol that supports programming based on Ethereum can not only realize the various blockchain applications that have been proposed above, but also realize brand-new blockchains that people have not thought of in the future. application. In other words, the blockchain protocol defined by Ethereum makes it possible for blockchain application developers to develop top-level applications efficiently and quickly.
Bitcoin is often referred to as the "global ledger," even though this ledger records the entire bill for just one currency - bitcoin. Correspondingly, Ethereum can be regarded as a "global computer": a place where anyone can upload and execute applications, and the effective execution of the program can be guaranteed, which depends on the Ethereum system. A centralized, highly robust consensus network composed of thousands of computers around the world. Ethereum, based on the blockchain technology applied to Bitcoin and other systems, also uses the cryptographic principles and economic incentives applied to Bitcoin and other systems as a guarantee of computational security. However, thanks to its support for programming languages, Ethereum is able to open up even greater possibilities.
As a concrete example, consider a scenario in which Slock, an Ethereum-based IoT platform, is used to provide a bicycle rental service. The owner of the bike would attach a Slock (smart lock) to their bike and register a smart contract (a piece of computer program code) for the bike on the Ethereum blockchain. Next, anyone can send a request to the smart contract to send a certain amount of digital currency. After the contract receives this request, it will automatically forward the digital currency to the owner of the bicycle and record a status, this status Used to indicate that the sender of the digital currency has just acquired some kind of ownership, such as the right to use the bicycle for the next three hours. Next, within three hours, the person can send a specific signature message to the Slock (smart lock) via the smartphone, and this signature message will open the lock on the car. The entire leasing process described above does not involve any centralized payment processor, not even Slock itself. Therefore, people who use locks similar to Slock don't have to worry about the fact that their locks cannot be used after the Slock company goes bankrupt, and they don't have to worry that service providers suddenly start charging high fees, and they don't have to worry that their private transaction information will fall into the in the hands of one party.
Other blockchain applications based on Ethereum include a variety of financial contracts - from simple digital applications of physical assets (gold, stocks) to complex financial derivatives applications; more secure Internet infrastructure-oriented update and maintenance applications (such as DNS and digital authentication); personal online identity management applications that do not rely on centralized service providers (because the centralized service provider is likely to leave some kind of backdoor and use it to spy on your personal privacy ). In addition to more than 100 blockchain applications that have been implemented by many entrepreneurial teams, Ethereum has also gained support from some financial institutions, banking consortia (such as R3), and large companies like Samsung, Deloitte, RWE, and IBM. Paying close attention has also spawned a number of blockchain applications such as simplifying and automating financial transactions, merchant loyalty index tracking, gift cards designed to decentralize electronic transactions, and more.
In essence, the goal of Ethereum is to introduce the three characteristics of decentralization, openness, and security of blockchain technology into almost all fields that can be calculated.
The original author Vitalik Buterin is the founder of Ethereum (Ethereum), the co-founder of Bitcoin Magazine, and a long-term blockchain and cryptocurrency developer and researcher. (Vitalik Buterin beat Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to win the 2014 World Technology Award in the IT Software category. This award recognizes Buterin's outstanding achievements in designing and developing the Bitcoin 2.0 platform Ethereum)
Bitcoin, released by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009, is often considered very radical in the financial world. As the first typical representative of digital assets, Bitcoin is not endorsed by anyone, has no "inherent value", and does not even have a centralized issuer and controller. At the same time, as part of the entire Bitcoin experiment, blockchain technology was used to implement the consensus mechanism of the Bitcoin system. This technology has now received more and more extensive attention. Some of the most frequently cited applications based on blockchain technology include "colored coin" applications that use on-chain assets to replace custom currencies and financial instruments, "smart asset" applications that manage ownership of physical equipment, and more complex applications. Applications include "smart contract" applications that directly control digital assets using code, and "decentralized autonomous organizations" (DAOs) based on blockchain .
Before the emergence of Ethereum, there were already many projects based on blockchain technology that tried to realize the above-mentioned blockchain applications. However, these items can only support one or several specific applications at the same time, and thus have certain limitations. The reason why Ethereum can surpass the limitations of these previous projects is because of its core idea : what Ethereum wants to implement is a blockchain protocol with a built-in programming language, because the programming language is supported, then theoretically any blockchain application can be defined in this language, and then, as an application, run on the blockchain protocol of Ethereum The TCP/IP protocols of the era can be compared to each other). It is not like those projects in the past, which are independent and define their own blockchain protocols, and each protocol only supports one or several specific blockchain applications and is incompatible with each other. Moreover, the blockchain protocol that supports programming based on Ethereum can not only realize the various blockchain applications that have been proposed above, but also realize brand-new blockchains that people have not thought of in the future. application. In other words, the blockchain protocol defined by Ethereum makes it possible for blockchain application developers to develop top-level applications efficiently and quickly.
Bitcoin is often referred to as the "global ledger," even though this ledger records the entire bill for just one currency - bitcoin. Correspondingly, Ethereum can be regarded as a "global computer": a place where anyone can upload and execute applications, and the effective execution of the program can be guaranteed, which depends on the Ethereum system. A centralized, highly robust consensus network composed of thousands of computers around the world. Ethereum, based on the blockchain technology applied to Bitcoin and other systems, also uses the cryptographic principles and economic incentives applied to Bitcoin and other systems as a guarantee of computational security. However, thanks to its support for programming languages, Ethereum is able to open up even greater possibilities.
As a concrete example, consider a scenario in which Slock, an Ethereum-based IoT platform, is used to provide a bicycle rental service. The owner of the bike would attach a Slock (smart lock) to their bike and register a smart contract (a piece of computer program code) for the bike on the Ethereum blockchain. Next, anyone can send a request to the smart contract to send a certain amount of digital currency. After the contract receives this request, it will automatically forward the digital currency to the owner of the bicycle and record a status, this status Used to indicate that the sender of the digital currency has just acquired some kind of ownership, such as the right to use the bicycle for the next three hours. Next, within three hours, the person can send a specific signature message to the Slock (smart lock) via the smartphone, and this signature message will open the lock on the car. The entire leasing process described above does not involve any centralized payment processor, not even Slock itself. Therefore, people who use locks similar to Slock don't have to worry about the fact that their locks cannot be used after the Slock company goes bankrupt, and they don't have to worry that service providers suddenly start charging high fees, and they don't have to worry that their private transaction information will fall into the in the hands of one party.
Other blockchain applications based on Ethereum include a variety of financial contracts - from simple digital applications of physical assets (gold, stocks) to complex financial derivatives applications; more secure Internet infrastructure-oriented update and maintenance applications (such as DNS and digital authentication); personal online identity management applications that do not rely on centralized service providers (because the centralized service provider is likely to leave some kind of backdoor and use it to spy on your personal privacy ). In addition to more than 100 blockchain applications that have been implemented by many entrepreneurial teams, Ethereum has also gained support from some financial institutions, banking consortia (such as R3), and large companies like Samsung, Deloitte, RWE, and IBM. Paying close attention has also spawned a number of blockchain applications such as simplifying and automating financial transactions, merchant loyalty index tracking, gift cards designed to decentralize electronic transactions, and more.
In essence, the goal of Ethereum is to introduce the three characteristics of decentralization, openness, and security of blockchain technology into almost all fields that can be calculated.