Smart Contracts

Ethereum allows the creation new digital tokens that which can hold value as they are used to represent virtual shares, assets, and more of the company. As of September 2017, Ethereum was popularily used by many new companies to create "intial-coin-offering"s or also known as "ICO"s. The purpose of ICOs are to represent shares, fundraising, or forms of voting. Companies behind ICOs can decide whether to have a fixed amount of tokens or a fluctuating amount based on predetermined rules.

Why Ethereum kicks, Kickstarters

A very strong feature of Ethereum allows developers to raise funds for various projects. Ethereum allows the creation of contracts that abides by the community. The tokens will be held until the goal or agreement has been met upon the agreed date. If the proposed goals fail to meet their deadline, ETH tokens will be released back to the contributors. When the middlemen such as "Kickstarter" are not a part of the process, Kickstarter's fees which can be up to 10%, no longer exist.

Bitcoin against Ethereum Blockchain

Bitcoin or also known as "BTC" has been and will always be the most popular cryptocurrency. For many new comers, they may be difficult to grasp the potential or power of what cryptocurrencues can offer but we can address one less technical aspect by going over a more practical scenario for the everday cash/credit consumer. ETH and BTC both are blockchains, a digital ledger that is recorded in chronological order and also publicly.

If a consumer would like to use their BTC to pay for a new watch, they would electronically send their BTC to the seller's wallet. This transfer process can take up to 10 minutes but usually longer depending on the amount of BTC is being transferred, ETH can handle it in seconds. The BTC blockchain takes longer as the public (or known as miners in this situation) will have to confirm that this transfer has happened, this process is called "confirmations". On a positive note, the fee for BTC confirmations would be a fixed amount no matter how many BTC one decides to send, so you can send 1,000 Bitcoins or a single Bitcoin and the fees would be the same.

Using Bitcoin to buy coffee could cost you double

Ethereum's transaction fees are called "gas fees" and on September 2017, the median cost to transfer ETH was $.14 USD for 51 second confirmations. Potentially paying a few more pennies on gas fees can give users confirmations in as little as 20 seconds. Ideally we can assume, fees were not intended to be so expensive. Using BTC to pay for a cup of coffee wouldn't be cost effective as a coffee can cost $3 USD and the fee itself could be $5 USD. So in this case ETH might be a better method of payment to get some hot cup of joe.

United Nations using Ethereum Blockchain

Ethereum had a major viral moment on May 31st, 2017, when one of the largest-ever Ethereum blockchain implementations were concluded successful when the United Nation's World Food Programme (WFP) sent Ethereum to thousands of 100,000 Syrian refugees that could be used at participating markets. Although still in the early stages, WFP plans to use Ethereum in the future to send aid to other countries around the world.

The Better Coin?

Vitalik Buterin has become an idol or dare I say a god to many people all over the world with his Ethereum blockchain. Discussing just the practical day to day consumer usage, we have only scratched the surface of the many innovations Ethereum has to offer to our world. Ethereum and Bitcoin are different but have much to offer. Many will question which is the better "coin", or dictate which coin should be eradicated, but I can tell you that stacking ETH against BTC, Ethereum looks like it is here for the long haul.

Vitalik Buterin