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1. Beginner Course

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  1. 1. What are these cryptocurrencies?
  2. 2. Bitcoin - the story of a technological revolution
  3. 3. Satoshi Nakamoto, who is the creator of Bitcoin?
  4. 4. Vitaly Buterin – the creator of Ethereum
  5. 5. What is Blockchain, and how does it work?
  6. 6. What is an NFT token?
  7. 7. What is money?
  8. 8. Cryptocurrencies vs fiat money, which will win?
  9. 9. What is DeFi (Decentralized Finance)?
  10. 10. DeFi: opportunities, advantages and disadvantages of decentralized finance
  11. 11. What is an altcoin?
  12. 12. Stablecoins - What are they?
  13. 13. Cryptocurrency wallet - what is it?
  14. 14. Why do we talk about bull and bear markets?
  15. 15. Security in the crypto market - what rules are worth following?
  16. 16. What is the seed phrase in cryptocurrencies?
  17. 17. Dogecoin and memecoin - what are they?
  18. 18. What is a Ponzi scheme?
  19. 19. What is Ethereum? 
  20. 20. What is a soft and hard fork?
  21. 21. Blockchain - examples of use
  22. 22. Is blockchain safe?
  23. 23. Smart Contracts - what are they?
  24. 24. Liquidity pools in the cryptocurrency market
  25. 25. What is cryptocurrency mining?
  26. 26. What is the mining difficulty?
  27. 27. Inflation and its effects on financial markets
  28. 28. What is compound interest, and how does it work?
  29. 29. Cryptocurrency wallet diversification
  30. 30. Blockchain and NFT games - how to make money on them?
  31. 31. Decentralized Apps – what are they?
  32. 32. What is Proof of Work (PoW) and what is Proof of Stake (PoS)?
  33. 33. What is the Proof of Authority (PoA) consensus mechanism?
  34. 34. What is Proof of Burn (PoB)?
  35. 35. What is CBDC - central bank digital money?
  36. 36. What is Cryptocurrency Airdrop all about?
  37. 37. What are the types of blockchain networks?
  38. 38. Key differences between ICO, IEO and STO
  39. 39. What is IoT - the Internet of Things?
  40. 40. What is the difference between Circulating Supply and Total Supply?
  41. 41. Everything you need to know about gas fees in Ethereum!
  42. 42. The most important cryptocurrency acronyms/slang you need to know!
  43. 43. Halving Bitcoin - what is it, and how does it affect the price?
  44. 44. What is the Fear and Greed index for cryptocurrencies?
  45. 45. APR versus APY: what is the difference?
  46. 46. Snapshot from the world of cryptocurrencies - what is it?
  47. 47. Know your customer (KYC) and Anti-money laundering (AML) what are they in the cryptocurrency industry?
  48. 48. What is a whitepaper? What is its purpose, and how do you write it?
  49. 49. How do you transfer cryptocurrencies?
  50. 50. What is EURT? How does it work?
  51. 51. What is Regenerative Finance (ReFi)?
  52. 52. Bitcoin Pizza Day
  53. 53. What Is Stagflation and Why Does It Have a Negative Impact on the Market?
  54. 54. What are decentralized DAO organizations, and how do they work? What are DAO tokens?
Lesson 19 of 54
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19. What is Ethereum? 

It is an open, distributed software platform. It runs on open-source technology on the  Blockchain. As the project’s homepage states, “Ethereum is a community-led  technology powering the Ether (ETH) cryptocurrency and thousands of decentralized  applications.” And it indeed is. There are a number of possibilities here. The platform is entirely decentralized, so it is not controlled by a central authority. 

As intended, the project supports peer-to-peer (P2P) contracts. P2P is the exchange of data over a network where every user is equal. It also allows us to use Dapps or decentralized applications

It is important to remember that Ethereum is not a cryptocurrency (Ether is – ETH). It is a complex blockchain network, consisting of chains of blocks. Whereas each of these blocks is made up of individual nodes. Many computers around the world have a copy of this chain, and any changes to the network must be accepted by all users. 

In the crypto world, Ethereum is often described as a second-generation blockchain.  It was intended by its creator to be an upgrade to the first-generation blockchain, as you may have guessed – Bitcoin. The platform wants to take full advantage of the possibilities offered by the blockchain, without limiting itself to its basic functions. The entire network is based on the Proof-of-Work algorithm, which we have already mentioned more than once. 

Ether (ETH) what is it? 

First of all, we must not confuse ETH with ETC here. ETC is Ethereum Classic, which was created in 2016.

Ether is the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum platform. We use it as a form of payment or capital investment. If you want to develop some application on the network, you pay with Ether for computing power, for example. Ether is also a reward for miners for mining and their contribution to the blockchain network. The supply of  Ether itself is unlimited; however, interestingly, it is subject to the laws of inflation. 

Right after Bitcoin, Ether is the second most popular cryptocurrency. It is available on almost all cryptocurrency exchanges. You can store it in a cryptocurrency wallet or trade it on an exchange. 

Ethereum – how it works 

The Ethereum network has three layers on which its operation is based. The first of  these is the Hardware Layer, or base layer. It consists of a vast network of computers or nodes that are connected to each other. In this layer, miners verify,  transmit and store all transaction data. They are paid in Ether for doing their hard work. Of course, the amount of reward depends on the Gas pricing system, which we will discuss later. The next layer is smart contracts. It is called the Software Layer.  This is where codes send data and implement the desired actions. Although this is another layer, it actually lies on top of the first layer. Programmers write smart contracts in this layer, using any programming language. Contracts automate actions such as transactions. The last layer discussed is dApps, or the application layer.  This is where developers can create and run decentralized applications, in the sector  of their choice (stock markets, finance, real estate, health, games, etc.). 

What is Gas? 

Reading news and curiosities from the world of crypto, not once or twice have you come across the statement that Gas fees on the Ethereum network are horrendously expensive. So what is this Gas…? It’s a pricing system built into the network. This fee is made up of bandwidth, space, transaction computational difficulty and Ether value.  The entire charge is measured in the so-called GWEI unit, which is the smallest unit of Ether. 

Vitalik Buterin – creator 

And for the sake of accuracy – the co-creator of the network. He is a Russian Canadian programmer. He was also behind the creation of Bitcoin Magazine. He first described the concept for the whole platform in 2013, and a year later work on it began. Ethereum Switzerland GmbH, a Swiss software company, is behind the creation, construction and continued expansion of the network. Interest in Ethereum has grown every year. In 2017, even the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance consortium was formed, bringing together the largest technology companies working to develop the platform. And if you want to learn more about the life and work of Vitalik himself,  we invite you to our previous lessons. 

Ethereum vs Bitcoin 

Bitcoin came first. It had a clear goal – to create a universal and fully decentralised  currency that would not be regulated by central banks. Ethereum has a different goal.  He focuses on creating an efficient blockchain network, with massive computing power. He aims to execute single transactions as well as create dApps. We can already see the first difference between the two. We also find differences in the cryptocurrencies themselves. There can be no more than 21 million Bitcoins in circulation. Ether supply, on the other hand, is unlimited. As we mentioned earlier – ETH is susceptible to inflation, which cannot be said about Bitcoin. 

What’s more, Ethereum: 

∙ Allows developers to raise funds for their own applications, through donations from the wider community. 

∙ Miners in Ethereum work to earn ETH. In Bitcoin, miners are responsible for  mining the block and are rewarded for doing so.  

∙ The transaction price in Bitcoin is limited by its block size. In the case of  Ethereum, it is determined by Gas. 

Summary 

Currently, Ethereum is facing two problems – scalability and high Gas fees. Hence,  new updates are constantly being released to effectively address these issues. One of them is Ethereum 2.0, which moves the Proof-of-Work mechanism to Proof-of-stake. The final update will take place in 2022. This will increase network scalability and reduce transaction fees, making Ethereum an even more interesting platform. 

Given the above lesson, we hope you already understand how Ethereum works.  While these are the basics of how Ethereum works, you will learn about more advanced aspects of Ethereum in future lessons.

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