What Is Ether?

Ethereum uses Ether. You can buy Ether on many exchanges. There are many Ether wallets to choose from.

Ethereum is a decentralized platform that runs smart contracts: applications that run exactly as programmed without any possibility of downtime, censorship, fraud or third party interference.

Build unstoppable applications

These apps run on a custom built blockchain, an enormously powerful shared global infrastructure that can move value around and represent the ownership of property.

This enables developers to create markets, store registries of debts or promises, move funds in accordance with instructions given long in the past (like a will or a futures contract) and many other things that have not been invented yet, all without a middle man or counterparty risk.

On traditional server architectures, every application has to set up its own servers that run their own code in isolated silos, making sharing of data hard.

If a single app is compromised or goes offline, many users and other apps are affected.

On a blockchain, anyone can set up a node that replicates the necessary data for all nodes to reach an agreement and be compensated by users and app developers.

Smart money, smart wallet

The Ethereum Wallet is a gateway to decentralized applications on the Ethereum blockchain. It allows you to hold and secure ether and other crypto-assets built on Ethereum, as well as write, deploy and use smart contracts.

Design and Issue Your Own Cryptocurrency

Create a tradeable digital token that can be used as a currency, a representation of an asset, a virtual share, a proof of membership or anything at all. These tokens use a standard coin API, so your contract will be automatically compatible with any wallet, other contract or exchange also using this standard.

The total amount of tokens in circulation can be set to a simple fixed amount or fluctuate based on any programmed ruleset.

Kickstart a Project with a Trustless Crowdsale

Do you already have ideas that you want to develop on Ethereum? Maybe you need help and some funds to bring them to life, but who would lend money to someone they don’t trust?

Using Ethereum, you can create a contract that will hold a contributor’s money until any given date or goal is reached. Depending on the outcome, the funds will either be released to the project owners or safely returned back to the contributors. All of this is possible without requiring a centralized arbitrator, clearing house or having to trust anyone.

You can even use the token you created earlier to keep track of the distribution of rewards.

Create a Democratic Autonomous Organization

Now that you have developed your idea and secured funds, what’s next? You have to hire managers, find a trustworthy CFO to handle the accounts, run board meetings and do a bunch of paperwork.

Or you can simply leave all that to an Ethereum contract. It will collect proposals from your backers and submit them through a completely transparent voting process.

One of the many advantages of having a robot run your organization is that it is immune to any outside influence as it’s guaranteed to execute only what it was programmed to. And because the Ethereum network is decentralized, you’ll be able to provide services with a 100% uptime guarantee.

Build a new kind of decentralized application

Now it’s your turn: start building what you dream of creating in Ethereum! Could your business be enhanced by operating on a cryptographically secure, decentralized, tamper-proof network?

Written by Vitalik Buterin on November 19, 2015.