A decentralized platform that runs smart contracts. Ethereum can deal with anything that has value. Smart contract authors have to be very careful to not introduce bugs that can be hacked.
Differences between Ethereum and Bitcoin:
Bitcoin was designed to be just a digital currency. Because of smart contracts, Ethereum has much larger capabilities.
Smart contracts: bundles of code on the blockchain
Ethereum has faster block times, but creates more orphan blocks. Faster confirmations of contracts.
Mining: more than 2/3 of BTC has already been mined.
Ether: used to pay for transaction on the Ethereum blockchain.
History:
Created by Vitalik Buterin had ideas of a scripting language for BTC. Nobody supported his idea so he created a new project and ran a crowd sale. Gave out 11.9 million ether to investors. They raised 150 million dollars. The most of any crowd sale in history.
Once the DAO was on the blockchain, it got hacked. The hacker made off of $50 million worth of Ether. There was a bug in the code. Vitalik Buterin came up with a way to stop the hackers. They did a hard fork. Lots of Ethereum users didn't agree with the hard fork, because they feel like blockchains can't be changed even to recover stolen funds.
Using Ethereum
Keys: public and private keys. The public keys are given to people when they want to send you ether. The private key is a unique line of code that proves your identity to Ethereum.
Wallets: before you buy ether, you need a wallet to store your private keys. Ether is stored on the blockchain.
Desktop wallets: on your pc. Wallets generate your keys for you.
Hardware wallets: immune to viruses designed to steal from software wallets
Mobile wallets: Lite wallet. Not secure
Paper wallet: a piece of paper that creates keys for you. guard them with your life. Make multiple copies and store them in many places. Safety deposit boxes.
Mist browser: Wallet and browser. Provides a complete view of the blockchain.
How to buy and send Ether
Coinbase
Ethereum meetups to buy peer to peer
Buy bitcoin first, then trade it into Ether
Etheruem and Security
Blockchain hacks. No BC is invulnerable.
Browsers have vulnerabilities.
51% attach. The hacker takes over the transactions and become top dog.
BTC got hacked in 2010. It was caught fast so it didn't lose money. A hacker was able to create a 184 billion transaction. They patched it right away. They've since been hacked again.
How can I loose all my ether
Hack
Email provider loses it's database.
Someone with administrator rights.
Exchange disappears along with the money. Mt Gox: the largest exchange that did this.
You let in a Trojan: Prevalent hiding in porn.
Fooled by an email: Spoof
You lose your keys. Very common
How to keep Ether secure:
Wallets. No online wallets. Don't be using any old wallet online. Software wallets are only as secure as your computer.
Cold storage: For savings. Untouched
Hot wallets: for paying day to day expenses.
Splitting up finances. Don't put all your money in one place.
Choose the right exchange. Most exchanges are centralized. If the higher ups start leaving, you leave too. If there are technical problems on the site, the developers aren't on top of things. Be familiar w/ the fine print:
how coins are purchased
exchange fees
what others are saying about it
Keep your email secure. 90% of hacks are done through email.
Create unique password
multifactor authentication
false info in your security questions
Keep a cheap smart phone for only financial stuff. Don't connect to public wifi
mine ether
Mining for Ether
Mist Browser: created by Ethereum. You can also become a node.
Mining is sorting through blocks and approving transactions.
Blocks represent anything. They take the form of smart contracts
Proof of work.
No cheating
Solo mining and pool mining. Join pools to make steady ether.
Takes lots of processing power and electricity.
If you cant profit, it's not worth it.
Hardware
a motherboard. 1-2 gpus
CPU
GPU for speed
RAM large ram 8+
PSU: Power supply unit. High quality
Harddrive: SSD 64gb
Software: Linux, Windows, or Ethos (stripped linux).
Mining software.
How is Ethereum Doing? How does it stack up against Bitcoin
Token: appear on the Ethereum blockchain, and can represent anything (a car, art, stocks, bonds...)
Fund a project: with a well written contract, no one loses
Start a DAO: Decentralized Autonomous Organization an organization created by developers to automate decisions and facilitate cryptocurrency transactions.
Ethereum vs Bitcoin:
Ransomware attacks erode community trust in BTC.
The future of Ethereum:
The EEA created to join companies with tech providers so they can start using Ethereum. What cant Ethereum do? The innovation is endless.
Affecting healthcare. Pharmacies
Auger. Rep. Used by journalists. Encourages and rewards honesty. Could be used by farmers, and doctors.
Identity management benefits. Smart contracts can be used to secure identities. Estonia has a national identity ledger. Users are in full control of who and when can see their identity.
Investing in Ethereum:
China's motivation.
Long term potential. It's stable.
Volatile is normal in crypto.
Security is built in
Price will keep going up (opinion). No limit on the number of Dapps
Real world usage. People are using it
Pros:
Invest if you
Don't need to sell for 2-3 years at least
Are patient
Believe in the future of Ethereum
Can afford to lose the money you invest
Can tolerate risk
Ethereum:
Volatile
can be clones
can lose money in a hack
no central authority has its drawbacks
could be heading for a bubble
Volatility is normal. Prices always yo-yo
Flash crashes are normal too; Is it above $80?
Buy the dip. Experts forecast these things
Rely on the right source. Check against reality. What's really going on.
Keep tabs on what's going on.
The future of peer to peer.
The crowd becomes the market. People who participate in the market, run the market.
Decentralized peer to peer markets. Darknet. Openbazaar (like ebay), Swarm (Uber competior), OB1.
Capturing value
Search, discovery, logistics, trust, & reputation. These always bring value. the creation of layers that re-aggregate value through those 5 things.
Creating Dapps:
Public key
Peer to peer networking
nodes
EVM: Ethereum VM
Ether
Gas: small amounts of ether that keeps things running
Dev environment. IDE
Dapp Frameworks: Dapple ...
Testing environments
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