Everything you want to know about Bitcoin
What is Bitcoin?
-Bitcoin is also called the mother of cryptocurrencies, because it was the first decentralized cryptocurrency world ever got to know.
-Decentralized in simple words means like the internet, everyone is the owner of their own currency.
-There is no central authority who control this cryptocurrency.
-Actually there is no need for any central authority, because these currencies can't be touched or felt, they can be only stored on digital devices like laptop, hard disk, pen drives, computers etc.
-Anyone form every corner of the world can send bitcoin to anyone just like Emails are sent. You just need a sender address and a reciever address.
-This concept came when an anonymous programmer Satoshi Nakamoto submitted a paper, giving solutions to every problem we faced in today's paper currencies.
-Bitcoin can be split into 100,000,000 small parts and can be spend individually.
-You need exchanges such to buy or sell your Bitcoins. There are over 5000 international and national exchanges available till date.
-After buying your cryptocurrencies you need a wallet to store them and there are many option available like you can leave your digital currencies on the wallet of the exchanges you bought, or you can seperatly install digital wallet or go the safest way buy hardware wallet.
How new Bitcoin are generated?
-When users do a transaction, there are computers who are involved in verification of these transaction. They listen to the transactions check for whether the Bitcoin sent are legimate or not? These are called miners.
-They check for digital signature of Bitcoin, verify and authenticate the transaction and add them to the blockchain. In return for all the process they recieve a small amount of fee in Bitcoin.
-These Bitcoin recieved by miners are the new Bitcoin generated and they do not have any digital signature. Once they enter the world of transaction they recieve their digital signature.
-Only 21 million Bitcoin can be generated and after every four years the miner fee is divide by half. So after all 21 millions Bitcoin will come into existence miners will make money just by verifying transaction and no new Bitcoin will be created.
Cryptocurrencies
E-money can either be centralised (with the control point of money supply) or decentralised, where the control over the supply can come from various sources or network of sources (Bitcoin and/or other virtual currencies). The main difference between e-money and virtual currencies is that e-money does not change the value of the fiat currency (euro, dollar, etc), but virtual currency is not equivalent to any fiat currency. In other words, all digital currency is electronic money, but e-money is not necessarily digital currency.
E-money
Electronic money or e-money in short is the money balance recorded electronically on a stored-value card or remotely on a server. The Bank for International Settlements defines e-money as ‘stored value or prepaid payment mechanisms for executing payments via point-of-sale terminals, direct transfers between two devices, or even open computer networks such as the Internet’. E-money is usually associated with so-called smart cards issued by companies such as Mondex and Visa Cash.
Electronic money is a floating claim that is not linked to any particular account. Examples of e-money are bank deposits, electronic fund transfer, payment processors, and digital currencies.
The term ‘stored-value card’ means the funds and/or data are 'physically' stored on the card, in the form of binary-coded data. With prepaid cards, the data is maintained on the card issuer's computers. Typical stored-value cards include: prepaid calling cards, gift cards, payroll card, loyalty cards, travel cards.
E-money can also be stored on (and used via) mobile phones or in a payment account on the Internet. Most common and widely used mobile subsystems are Google Wallet and Apple pay.
The fast introduction of e-money has lead to governmental regulatory activities. Hong Kong was among the first jurisdiction to regulate e-money, by allowing only licensed banks to issue stored-value cards. Since 2001, the European Union has implemented a directive on the taking up, pursuit and prudential supervision of the business of electronic money institutions (E-Money Directive - 2009/110/EC).
Electronic currencies can be divided into soft currency and hard currency. Hard electronic currency is one that only supports non-reversible transaction. Reversing transaction, even in case of a legitimate error is not possible. They are more oriented to cash transactions. Examples for hard currencies are: Western Union, KlickEx, or Bitcoin. On the other hand, soft electronic currency is one that allows reversal of payments in a case of fraud or disputes. Examples are PayPal and credit cards.
Digital currency
Simple intention drives this technological avalanche, based on financial and commercial competition (as is the case of regulated economies). In this struggle, the regulated market and the privacy of the affairs of financial actors are crucial. Fair and constructive financial institutions acting as intermediaries are the safeguards of these principles. In most cases these are state regulatory agencies. But something has changed in the digital era. Regulation is taking a new form of teamwork and networking.
The European Central Bank defined in 2012 virtual money (virtual currencies) as a ‘type of unregulated, digital money which is issued and usually controlled by its developers, and used and accepted among the members of a specific virtual community’. This Internet based medium of exchange have properties similar to physical currencies, however allows for instantaneous transaction and borderless transfer-of-ownership. Banks and customers use their keys to encrypt (for security) and sign (for identification) blocks of digital data that represent money orders. A bank ‘signs’ money orders using its private key and customers and merchants verify the signed money orders using the bank’s widely published public key. Customers sign deposits and withdraw using their private key and the bank uses the customer's public key to verify the signed withdraws and deposits.
In 2014, the European Banking Authority, defined virtual currency as ‘a digital representation of value that is neither issued by a central bank or a public authority, nor necessarily attached to a fiat currency, but is accepted by natural or legal persons as a means of payment and can be transferred, stored or traded electronically’.
Both virtual currencies and cryptocurencies are types of digital currencies.
Cryptocurrencies are set to take the online world by storm, as their popularity and use, and understanding of their advantages and limitations increases. Giant companies like Apple, Dell and PayPal have already indicated their plans to integrate cryptocurrencies as a payment method, and more are likely to follow, with Bitcoin emerging as one of the most popular virtual electronic currencies. The main invention of this cryptocurrency is to present the central ledger of all transactions, known as blockchain. This open source software allows all peers in a network to verify every transaction ever made in the Bitcoin system and therefore serve as guardians to this central ledger.
There are signs that central banks are also paying more and more attention to virtual currencies. As an example, in early 2016, the People's’ Bank of China announced that it was looking into the possibility of launching its own virtual currency, considering that this would contribute to making economic activities more transparent, while also reducing money laundering and tax evasion.
The main issues
There are many comparative advantages of this system of money creation and payments compared to the usual form of online financial transactions. Using one source (the Internet) to connect to a unique global financial system sounds like possible futuristic idea, but with virtual currencies, it is not far away.
At the same time, there are also many warnings that virtual currencies could be misused for illegal goods and services, fraud, and money laundering. The anonymity associated to the use of virtual currencies (such as bitcoin) transactions increases the potential of possible misuse. A US government-funded report on the 'National Security Implications of Virtual Currencies', published at the end of 2015, noted that ‘non-state actors’, including terrorist and insurgent groups, may exploit virtual currency by using it for regular economic transactions.
Government regulation is still the key to virtual currencies attracting more users, as well as to potentially address the risks of misuse. States around the world are currently considering its regulation. This will not only increase consumer confidence in the technology, it will also involve more companies and investors in the growing business. While some are arguing that unregulated virtual currencies are safe haven for money laundering and illegal flow of money, others present this as an ultimate tool in fighting identity thefts and leakage of personal financial information.
Best Cryptocurrency Wallet
Cryptocurrency wallets provide users with a digital solution for securely storing and managing blockchain assets and cryptocurrencies. These wallets allow users to spend, receive, and trade cryptocurrencies. While some cryptocurrency wallets may only provide support for a single cryptocurrency, many are multi-asset solutions, allowing users to hold multiple cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, and Litecoin, among many others. These solutions ensure that the owner of the cryptocurrencies and blockchain assets is the only entity who can access the funds by requiring elaborate passwords and other security measures. Users can view or access cryptocurrency wallets from smartphones and computers.
Cryptocurrency wallets do not physically store the blockchain assets; instead, the wallets store public and private keys. Public keys are segments of digital code that are attached to a decentralized blockchain, almost like a bank account number. Private keys are also pieces of digital code, but are unique to an individual’s cryptocurrency wallet, similar to an ATM PIN code. Private keys match and prove ownership of public keys. Owners use their private keys to conduct all transactions with the cryptocurrency that they own.
Cryptocurrency wallets can be utilized by businesses accepting payments through cryptocurrency payment gateways to securely store or exchange blockchain assets.
To qualify for inclusion in the Cryptocurrency Wallet category, a product must:
Allow users to store private keys associated with a blockchain ledger
Provide a way to interface with said blockchains to store, send, and receive cryptocurrencies, as well as monitor balances
Offer security measures to ensure private keys are only accessed by owners of the blockchain assets.
Some of the best ones are:
- Coinbase Wallet
- MyEtherWallet
- StakedWallet.io
- BitGo Cryptocurrency Wallet
- Exodus
- Jaxx
- Electrum Wallet
- Bitcoin Core Client
How does Bitcoin Mining work?
What Is Bitcoin Mining?
Bitcoin mining is the process by which new bitcoins are entered into circulation, but it is also a critical component of the maintenance and development of the blockchain ledger. It is performed using very sophisticated computers that solve extremely complex computational math problems.
Cryptocurrency mining is painstaking, costly, and only sporadically rewarding. Nonetheless, mining has a magnetic appeal for many investors interested in cryptocurrency because of the fact that miners are rewarded for their work with crypto tokens. This may be because entrepreneurial types see mining as pennies from heaven, like California gold prospectors in 1849. And if you are technologically inclined, why not do it?
However, before you invest the time and equipment, read this explainer to see whether mining is really for you. We will focus primarily on Bitcoin (throughout, we'll use "Bitcoin" when referring to the network or the cryptocurrency as a concept, and "bitcoin" when we're referring to a quantity of individual tokens).
A New Gold Rush
The primary draw for many mining is the prospect of being rewarded with Bitcoin. That said, you certainly don't have to be a miner to own cryptocurrency tokens. You can also buy cryptocurrencies using fiat currency; you can trade it on an exchange like Bitstamp using another crypto (as an example, using Ethereum or NEO to buy Bitcoin); you even can earn it by shopping, publishing blog posts on platforms that pay users in cryptocurrency, or even set up interest-earning crypto accounts. An example of a crypto blog platform is Steemit, which is kind of like Medium except that users can reward bloggers by paying them in a proprietary cryptocurrency called STEEM. STEEM can then be traded elsewhere for Bitcoin.
The Bitcoin reward that miners receive is an incentive that motivates people to assist in the primary purpose of mining: to legitimize and monitor Bitcoin transactions, ensuring their validity. Because these responsibilities are spread among many users all over the world, Bitcoin is a "decentralized" cryptocurrency, or one that does not rely on any central authority like a central bank or government to oversee its regulation.
How To Mine Bitcoins
Miners are getting paid for their work as auditors. They are doing the work of verifying the legitimacy of Bitcoin transactions. This convention is meant to keep Bitcoin users honest and was conceived by bitcoin's founder, Satoshi Nakamoto. By verifying transactions, miners are helping to prevent the "double-spending problem."
Double spending is a scenario in which a bitcoin owner illicitly spends the same bitcoin twice. With physical currency, this isn't an issue: once you hand someone a $20 bill to buy a bottle of vodka, you no longer have it, so there's no danger you could use that same $20 bill to buy lotto tickets next door. While there is the possibility of counterfeit cash being made, it is not exactly the same as literally spending the same dollar twice. With digital currency, however, as the Investopedia dictionary explains, "there is a risk that the holder could make a copy of the digital token and send it to a merchant or another party while retaining the original."
Let's say you had one legitimate $20 bill and one counterfeit of that same $20. If you were to try to spend both the real bill and the fake one, someone that took the trouble of looking at both of the bills' serial numbers would see that they were the same number, and thus one of them had to be false. What a Bitcoin miner does is analogous to that—they check transactions to make sure that users have not illegitimately tried to spend the same bitcoin twice. This isn't a perfect analogy—we'll explain in more detail below.
Once miners have verified 1 MB (megabyte) worth of bitcoin transactions, known as a "block," those miners are eligible to be rewarded with a quantity of bitcoin (more about the bitcoin reward below as well). The 1 MB limit was set by Satoshi Nakamoto, and is a matter of controversy, as some miners believe the block size should be increased to accommodate more data, which would effectively mean that the bitcoin network could process and verify transactions more quickly.
Note that verifying 1 MB worth of transactions makes a coin miner eligible to earn bitcoin—not everyone who verifies transactions will get paid out.
1MB of transactions can theoretically be as small as one transaction (though this is not at all common) or several thousand. It depends on how much data the transactions take up.
"So after all that work of verifying transactions, I might still not get any bitcoin for it?"
That is correct.
To earn bitcoins, you need to meet two conditions. One is a matter of effort; one is a matter of luck.
1) You have to verify ~1MB worth of transactions. This is the easy part.
2) You have to be the first miner to arrive at the right answer, or closest answer, to a numeric problem. This process is also known as proof of work.
"What do you mean, 'the right answer to a numeric problem'?"
The good news: No advanced math or computation is involved. You may have heard that miners are solving difficult mathematical problems—that's not exactly true. What they're actually doing is trying to be the first miner to come up with a 64-digit hexadecimal number (a "hash") that is less than or equal to the target hash. It's basically guesswork.
The bad news: It's guesswork, but with the total number of possible guesses for each of these problems being on the order of trillions, it's incredibly arduous work. In order to solve a problem first, miners need a lot of computing power. To mine successfully, you need to have a high "hash rate," which is measured in terms of megahashes per second (MH/s), gigahashes per second (GH/s), and terahashes per second (TH/s).
That is a great many hashes.
If you want to estimate how much bitcoin you could mine with your mining rig's hash rate, the site Cryptocompare offers a helpful calculator.
Mining and Bitcoin Circulation
In addition to lining the pockets of miners and supporting the bitcoin ecosystem, mining serves another vital purpose: It is the only way to release new cryptocurrency into circulation. In other words, miners are basically "minting" currency. For example, as of Nov. 2020, there were around 18.5 million bitcoins in circulation. Aside from the coins minted via the genesis block (the very first block, which was created by founder Satoshi Nakamoto), every single one of those Bitcoin came into being because of miners. In the absence of miners, Bitcoin as a network would still exist and be usable, but there would never be any additional bitcoin. There will eventually come a time when Bitcoin mining ends; per the Bitcoin Protocol, the total number of bitcoins will be capped at 21 million. However, because the rate of bitcoin "mined" is reduced over time, the final bitcoin won't be circulated until around the year 2140. This does not mean that transactions will cease to be verified. Miners will continue to verify transactions and will be paid in fees for doing so in order to keep the integrity of Bitcoin's network.
Aside from the short-term Bitcoin payoff, being a coin miner can give you "voting" power when changes are proposed in the Bitcoin network protocol. In other words, miners have a degree of influence on the decision-making process on such matters as forking.
How Much a Miner Earns
The rewards for bitcoin mining are reduced by half every four years. When bitcoin was first mined in 2009, mining one block would earn you 50 BTC. In 2012, this was halved to 25 BTC. By 2016, this was halved again to 12.5 BTC. On May 11, 2020, the reward halved again to 6.25 BTC. In November of 2020, the price of Bitcoin was about $17,900 per Bitcoin, which means you'd earn $111,875 (6.25 x 17,900) for completing a block. Not a bad incentive to solve that complex hash problem detailed above, it might seem.
If you want to keep track of precisely when these halvings will occur, you can consult the Bitcoin Clock, which updates this information in real-time. Interestingly, the market price of bitcoin has, throughout its history, tended to correspond closely to the reduction of new coins entered into circulation. This lowering inflation rate increased scarcity and historically the price has risen with it.
If you are interested in seeing how many blocks have been mined thus far, there are several sites, including Blockchain.info, that will give you that information in real-time.
What Do I Need To Mine Bitcoins?
Although early on in Bitcoin's history individuals may have been able to compete for blocks with a regular at-home computer, this is no longer the case. The reason for this is that the difficulty of mining Bitcoin changes over time. In order to ensure the smooth functioning of the blockchain and its ability to process and verify transactions, the Bitcoin network aims to have one block produced every 10 minutes or so. However, if there are one million mining rigs competing to solve the hash problem, they'll likely reach a solution faster than a scenario in which 10 mining rigs are working on the same problem. For that reason, Bitcoin is designed to evaluate and adjust the difficulty of mining every 2,016 blocks, or roughly every two weeks. When there is more computing power collectively working to mine for Bitcoin, the difficulty level of mining increases in order to keep block production at a stable rate. Less computing power means the difficulty level decreases. To get a sense of just how much computing power is involved, when Bitcoin launched in 2009 the initial difficulty level was one. As of Nov. 2019, it is more than 13 trillion.
All of this is to say that, in order to mine competitively, miners must now invest in powerful computer equipment like a GPU (graphics processing unit) or, more realistically, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). These can run from $500 to the tens of thousands. Some miners—particularly Ethereum miners—buy individual graphics cards (GPUs) as a low-cost way to cobble together mining operations. The photo below is a makeshift, home-made mining machine. The graphics cards are those rectangular blocks with whirring fans. Note the sandwich twist-ties holding the graphics cards to the metal pole. This is probably not the most efficient way to mine, and as you can guess, many miners are in it as much for the fun and challenge as for the money.
The "Explain It Like I'm Five" Version
The ins and outs of bitcoin mining can be difficult to understand as is. Consider this illustrative example of how the hash problem works: I tell three friends that I'm thinking of a number between one and 100, and I write that number on a piece of paper and seal it in an envelope. My friends don't have to guess the exact number; they just have to be the first person to guess any number that is less than or equal to the number I am thinking of. And there is no limit to how many guesses they get.
Let's say I'm thinking of the number 19. If Friend A guesses 21, they lose because of 21>19. If Friend B guesses 16 and Friend C guesses 12, then they've both theoretically arrived at viable answers, because of 16<19 and 12<19. There is no "extra credit" for Friend B, even though B's answer was closer to the target answer of 19. Now imagine that I pose the "guess what number I'm thinking of" question, but I'm not asking just three friends, and I'm not thinking of a number between 1 and 100. Rather, I'm asking millions of would-be miners and I'm thinking of a 64-digit hexadecimal number. Now you see that it's going to be extremely hard to guess the right answer.
If B and C both answer simultaneously, then the ELI5 analogy breaks down.
In Bitcoin terms, simultaneous answers occur frequently, but at the end of the day, there can only be one winning answer. When multiple simultaneous answers are presented that are equal to or less than the target number, the Bitcoin network will decide by a simple majority—51%—which miner to honor. Typically, it is the miner who has done the most work or, in other words, the one that verifies the most transactions. The losing block then becomes an "orphan block." Orphan blocks are those that are not added to the blockchain. Miners who successfully solve the hash problem but who haven't verified the most transactions are not rewarded with bitcoin.
What Is a "64-Digit Hexadecimal Number"?
Well, here is an example of such a number:
0000000000000000057fcc708cf0130d95e27c5819203e9f967ac56e4df598ee
The number above has 64 digits. Easy enough to understand so far. As you probably noticed, that number consists not just of numbers, but also letters of the alphabet. Why is that?
To understand what these letters are doing in the middle of numbers, let's unpack the word "hexadecimal."
As you know, we use the "decimal" system, which means it is base 10. This, in turn, means that every digit of a multi-digit number has 10 possibilities, zero through nine.
"Hexadecimal," on the other hand, means base 16, as "hex" is derived from the Greek word for six and "deca" is derived from the Greek word for 10. In a hexadecimal system, each digit has 16 possibilities. But our numeric system only offers 10 ways of representing numbers (zero through nine). That's why you have to stick letters in, specifically letters a, b, c, d, e, and f.
If you are mining bitcoin, you do not need to calculate the total value of that 64-digit number (the hash). I repeat: You do not need to calculate the total value of a hash.
So, what do "64-digit hexadecimal numbers" have to do with bitcoin mining?
Remember that ELI5 analogy, where I wrote the number 19 on a piece of paper and put it in a sealed envelope?
In bitcoin mining terms, that metaphorical undisclosed number in the envelope is called the target hash.
What miners are doing with those huge computers and dozens of cooling fans is guessing at the target hash. Miners make these guesses by randomly generating as many "nonces" as possible, as fast as possible. A nonce is short for "number only used once," and the nonce is the key to generating these 64-bit hexadecimal numbers I keep talking about. In Bitcoin mining, a nonce is 32 bits in size—much smaller than the hash, which is 256 bits. The first miner whose nonce generates a hash that is less than or equal to the target hash is awarded credit for completing that block and is awarded the spoils of 6.25 BTC.
In theory, you could achieve the same goal by rolling a 16-sided die 64 times to arrive at random numbers, but why on earth would you want to do that?
All target hashes begin with zeros—at least eight zeros and up to 63 zeros.
There is no minimum target, but there is a maximum target set by the Bitcoin Protocol. No target can be greater than this number:
00000000ffff0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
"How do I maximize my chances of guessing the target hash before anyone else does?"
You'd have to get a fast mining rig, or, more realistically, join a mining pool—a group of coin miners who combine their computing power and split the mined bitcoin. Mining pools are comparable to those Powerball clubs whose members buy lottery tickets en masse and agree to share any winnings. A disproportionately large number of blocks are mined by pools rather than by individual miners.
In other words, it's literally just a numbers game. You cannot guess the pattern or make a prediction based on previous target hashes. The difficulty level of the most recent block at the time of writing is about 17.59 trillion, meaning that the chance of any given nonce producing a hash below the target is one in 17.59 trillion. Not great odds if you're working on your own, even with a tremendously powerful mining rig.
"How do I decide whether bitcoin will be profitable for me?"
Not only do miners have to factor in the costs associated with expensive equipment necessary to stand a chance of solving a hash problem. They must also consider the significant amount of electrical power mining rigs utilize in generating vast quantities of nonces in search of the solution. All told, bitcoin mining is largely unprofitable for most individual miners as of this writing. The site Cryptocompare offers a helpful calculator that allows you to plug in numbers such as your hash speed and electricity costs to estimate the costs and benefits.
What Are Coin Mining Pools?
Mining rewards are paid to the miner who discovers a solution to the puzzle first, and the probability that a participant will be the one to discover the solution is equal to the portion of the total mining power on the network. Participants with a small percentage of the mining power stand a very small chance of discovering the next block on their own. For instance, a mining card that one could purchase for a couple of thousand dollars would represent less than 0.001% of the network's mining power. With such a small chance at finding the next block, it could be a long time before that miner finds a block, and the difficulty going up makes things even worse. The miner may never recoup their investment. The answer to this problem is mining pools. Mining pools are operated by third parties and coordinate groups of miners. By working together in a pool and sharing the payouts among all participants, miners can get a steady flow of bitcoin starting the day they activate their miner. Statistics on some of the mining pools can be seen on Blockchain.info.
"I've done the math. Forget mining. Is there a less onerous way to profit from cryptocurrencies?"
As mentioned above, the easiest way to acquire bitcoin is to simply buy it on one of the many exchanges. Alternately, you can always leverage the "pickaxe strategy." This is based on the old saw that during the 1849 California gold rush, the smart investment was not to pan for gold, but rather to make the pickaxes used for mining. Or, to put it in modern terms, invest in the companies that manufacture those pickaxes. In a cryptocurrency context, the pickaxe equivalent would be a company that manufactures equipment used for Bitcoin mining. You may consider looking into companies that make ASICs equipment or GPUs instead, for example.
Is Bitcoin Mining Legal?
The legality of Bitcoin mining depends entirely on your geographic location. The concept of Bitcoin can threaten the dominance of fiat currencies and government control over the financial markets. For this reason, Bitcoin is completely illegal in certain places.
Bitcoin ownership and mining are legal in more countries than not. Some examples of places where it is illegal are Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nepal, and Pakistan.4 Overall, Bitcoin use and mining are legal across much of the globe.
Risks of Mining
The risks of mining are often that of financial risk and a regulatory one. As mentioned, Bitcoin mining, and mining in general, is a financial risk. One could go through all the effort of purchasing hundreds or thousands of dollars worth of mining equipment only to have no return on their investment. That said, this risk can be mitigated by joining mining pools. If you are considering mining and live in an area that it is prohibited you should reconsider. It may also be a good idea to research your countries regulation and overall sentiment towards cryptocurrency before investing in mining equipment.
One additional potential risk from the growth of bitcoin mining (and other proof-of-work systems as well) is the increasing energy usage required by the computer systems running the mining algorithms. While microchip efficiency has increased dramatically for ASIC chips, the growth of the network itself is outpacing technological progress. As a result, there are concerns about the environmental impact and carbon footprint of Bitcoin mining. There are, however, efforts to mitigate this negative externality by seeking cleaner and green energy sources for mining operations (such as geo-thermal or solar), as well as utilizing carbon offset credits. Switching to less energy-intensive consensus mechanisms like proof-of-stake (PoS), which Ethereum is planning to do, is another strategy; however, PoS comes with its own set of drawbacks and inefficiencies.
What Is Ethereum And How Does It Work?
Ethereum is often referred to as the second most popular cryptocurrency, after Bitcoin. But unlike Bitcoin—and most other virtual currencies—Ethereum is intended to be much more than simply a medium of exchange or a store of value. Instead, Ethereum calls itself a decentralized computing network built on blockchain technology. Let’s unpack what that means.
How Does Ethereum Work?
Like all cryptocurrencies, Ethereum works on the basis of a blockchain network. A blockchain is a decentralized, distributed public ledger where all transactions are verified and recorded.
It’s distributed in the sense that everyone participating in the Ethereum network holds an identical copy of this ledger, letting them see all past transactions. It’s decentralized in that the network isn’t operated or managed by any centralized entity—instead, it’s managed by all of the distributed ledger holders.
Blockchain transactions use cryptography to keep the network secure and verify transactions. People use computers to “mine,” or solve complex mathematical equations that confirm each transaction on the network and add new blocks to the blockchain that is at the heart of the system. Participants are rewarded with cryptocurrency tokens. For the Ethereum system, these tokens are called Ether (ETH).
Ether can be used to buy and sell goods and services, like Bitcoin. It’s also seen rapid gains in price over recent years, making it a de-facto speculative investment. But what’s unique about Ethereum is that users can build applications that “run” on the blockchain like software “runs” on a computer. These applications can store and transfer personal data or handle complex financial transactions.
“Ethereum is different from Bitcoin in that the network can perform computations as part of the mining process,” says Ken Fromm, director of education and development at the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance. “This basic computational capability turns a store of value and medium of exchange into a decentralized global computing engine and openly verifiable data store.”
