Blockchain 2.0 (VI): Ethereum - Complete Open Smart Contract Solution

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What is Ethereum?

In layman's terms, Ethereum is a new kind of law. Traditional contracts are drawn up according to the law, and the execution and handling of breaches rely on lawyers and courts; Ethereum solves this series of problems. Contracts are drawn up and executed through programs, and human intervention is impossible, so there is almost no dispute.

What problem does Ethereum solve?

By turning traditional contracts into smart contracts, we can solve difficult problems such as disputes in traditional contracts through automation.

So how does Ethereum do this?

The answer is smart contracts: Ethereum provides a complete solution for smart contracts.

The core of blockchain 2.0

What is important about blockchain 2.0 is smart contracts and smart assets, and the most influential development platform in the field of smart contracts is Ethereum. In 2016, Rootstock, a smart contract platform based on the Bitcoin blockchain, also developed rapidly and recently received US$1 million in investment led by Bitmain.

From a technical perspective, Bitcoin consists of three layers:区块链,协议, and货币.

Bitcoin is the most important application of blockchain 1.0, which completes currency and payment transactions very well. However, for more complex 2.0 applications that record and transfer assets through smart contracts, a more powerful system is needed: a Turing complete system (capable of running any currency, protocol, and blockchain). Thus, the Turing complete system Ethereum was born.

Ethereum technical architecture

Ethereum is a platform and programming language, including the digital currency Ether and EtherScript, which is used to build and publish distributed applications. Ethereum is a basic, open, general-purpose digital currency platform to implement a Turing-complete virtual machine that can use any currency, protocol, and blockchain.

Ethereum is open and universal. Every node in the network can run the Ethereum virtual machine to publish distributed smart contract programs. Ethereum smart contracts can call multiple other blockchains, protocols, and currencies. As a general distributed application development platform that is independent of the underlying blockchain and protocol, it has the conditions to become a platform-level product.

Ethereum has its own distributed system

Ethereum has its own distributed system: including file service Swarm, information transmission Whisper and reputation guarantee. Swarm is a decentralized file service; Whisper is an encrypted communication transmission system; credit guarantee provides a system for establishing reputation and reducing discovery in a trustless network, which can be provided by third parties such as Crypto Schwartz and TrustDavis.

Ethereum is open source software

Ethereum itself is open source software, with the rapid innovation characteristics of open source projects. New projects can share other project codes and incorporate them into their own projects, and quickly iterate products that meet market demand. Ethereum has the vision of a decentralized open blockchain technology architecture, and is committed to building a blockchain infrastructure to help others quickly develop products. In the open system of Ethereum, multiple blockchains, protocols or currencies coexist. I believe that in the future, phenomenal products will be born, just like Facebook and Uber based on the Internet.

Which institutions are supporting Ethereum?

Ethereum is being closely watched by some financial institutions, banking consortiums (such as R3), and large companies such as Samsung, Deloitte, RWE and IBM, which has also spawned a number of blockchain applications such as simplified and automated financial transactions, merchant loyalty index tracking, gift cards designed to decentralize electronic transactions, etc. In essence, the goal of Ethereum is to introduce the three major characteristics of blockchain technology, decentralization, openness, and security, to almost all areas that can be calculated.

Ethereum’s real-world applications

Imagine a scenario where Slock.it (an Ethereum-based IoT platform) provides a bicycle rental service. The bicycle owner will install a Slock (smart lock) on their bicycle and register a smart contract (a piece of program code) for the bicycle on the Ethereum blockchain. Next, anyone can initiate a request to send a certain amount of digital currency to the smart contract. After receiving this request, the contract will automatically forward the digital currency to the owner of the bicycle, so that the sender can get 2 hours of use.

Ethereum peripheral projects

Ethereum browsers such as Meta Mask and Mist, uPort wallets, and self-sovereign identity portals

Ethereum has received strong support from the technology community and business organizations in the past two years and has developed rapidly. I believe that Ethereum will become the most competitive solution in the blockchain field in the future.