diff --git a/Decentralized-apps-(dapps).md b/Decentralized-apps-(dapps).md new file mode 100644 index 000000000..1dbed731b --- /dev/null +++ b/Decentralized-apps-(dapps).md @@ -0,0 +1,83 @@ +Any good, service, governance or economic activity can be decentralized and tokenized with and transacted via Ethereum. The token represents the dapp (an abbreviation for decentralized app) while it uses the Ethereum blockchain, but the price of the token is different. Activity that has any economic or governance aspect, conceived or as of yet inconceived, can be done via Ethereum, provided that the right code is written and the necessary hardware is used (such as computers running an Ethereum node, and in some special cases, a measurement device to measure a resource flow for additional verification/auditable purposes, like a meter for electricity ⚡🔌, water 🚰 or gas 🔥; or a waste 🗑️ volume detector). Here's a challenge: keep an eye out for activity that has not been implemented on Ethereum (or could be implemented in a better way; check this article and research to check whether it's implementeId and if so, how well) and then: + + +This platform aspect of Ethereum has been referred to as a 'fat protocol' here, as opposed to the 'thin protocols' of Web 1.0 and 2.0 with HTTP, SMTP, etc., with the take home point (in bold) being: +
the market cap of the protocol always grows faster than the combined value of the applications built on top, since the success of the application layer drives further speculation at the protocol layer.
+One kind of application that is particularly intriguing is decentralized autononous organisations (DAOs, this includes entities as large as, or even larger than nation-states 🇦🇺🇺🇸🇮🇳🇬🇧🇨🇳🇧🇷🇷🇺🇯🇵, social networks, multinational public companies, etc.). Note that having complete autonomy is probably not a good idea, since code may not be able to handle new issues that arise, so human intervention should probably always be an option, but preferably in the hands of a small, non-profit entity or some decentralized solution (perhaps similar to the Aragon Network). By analogy, you wouldn't want a nuclear power plant to be completely automated with no possible means of human intervention. As a precaution, you'd want several safeguards including, for example, an off button 😉. As explained in this Ethereum Wiki here, the first DAO, known as The DAO, resulted in many funds being stolen, and Ethereum hard forking into Ethereum and Ethereum Classic. + +The following list is sourced from [Coin Market Cap tokens (you can sort by market cap)](https://coinmarketcap.com/tokens/) and State of the Dapps, both of which lists many more, as well as elsewhere, e.g. Gitter research room chats. (There are 854 dapps on State of the Dapps as of Dec 1 2017; then [909 on Jan 1 2018] (https://web.archive.org/web/20180101114436/https://www.stateofthedapps.com/). 😯 You can search by tags.) Other examples are also presented e.g. on day 4 of [Devcon 3](http://www.ryanyosua.me/devcon-3-talks/), as well as outlined in the Ethereum whitepaper in the introduction and applications section. Note also that while most of the dapps in the following list run on the Ethereum platform, some examples do not, and where they don't run on Ethereum, it is generally noted as what they do run on. This is not a big deal, as any dapp could theoretically run on another blockchain, (or indirectly via inter-blockchains like Cosmos or Polkadot) provided that the host blockchain has the required features. Also note that the below list is not an endorsement, and is not exhaustive or necessarily well-maintained. At worst, it's included because it was briefly looked into and it seemed like a good idea, while more time may have been spent doing due diligence on some ideas and can therefore have a better idea of its usefulness. Dapps that have been implemented, or are under development, or have been publicly conceptualised, includes: +* a stable coin, e.g. [Dai](https://makerdao.com/whitepaper/DaiDec17WP.pdf) +* smart contracts for the legally enforceable and/or liquid transfer of assets, plus related services e.g. [Mattereum](https://mattereum.com/) and [Sweetbridge](https://sweetbridge.com), e.g. settlement, accounting, risk management, resource sharing, and Optimization & Liquid Talent. Also, asset-based lending: secure loans with holding of assets e.g cryptocurrenices (locking them up) in exchange for cash (fiat currencies), such as Sweetbridge and [SALT](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/salt/); +* [Veritaseum](http://veritas.veritaseum.com/), which "enables software-driven P2P capital markets without brokerages, banks and traditional exchanges". +* [invoice financing with Populous](https://populous.co/) +* decentralized exchanges to buy and sell cryptos and fiat, e.g. localethereum; for cryptos only there is Decentrex, Omega One and NVO, where the latter two have not been launched as of November 30. +* non-decentralized exchanges such as [Coinbase](https://www.coinbase.com/) (US), [BTCmarkets](https://btcmarkets.net/) (Australia), while more are below, or ones that only exchange cryptocurrencies like Poloniex; +* other exchanges like [OmiseGo](https://omisego.network/). "OmiseGO is a public Ethereum-based financial technology for use in mainstream digital wallets, that enables real-time, peer-to-peer value exchange and payment services agnostically across jurisdictions and organizational silos, and across both fiat money and decentralized currencies. Designed to enable financial inclusion and disrupt existing institutions, access will be made available to everyone via the OmiseGO network and digital wallet framework."; +* exchange platforms like [Binance](https://www.binance.com/aboutUs.html); +* asset exchanges like [WAX](https://wax.io/). +* the Brave browser (which the author uses) which uses the Basic Attention Token, which provides a better solution for users, publishers and advertisers; +* [MaidSafe](https://maidsafe.net/), which has another browser that actually runs on the [Omni](http://www.omnilayer.org/) layer that runs on Bitcoin, not Ethereum. It is also claiming to be: "The World's First Autonomous Data Network". [Currently you have to receive an invite which requires roughly an hour of interaction on their Discourse forum/site.](https://web.archive.org/web/20171230003420/https://invite.maidsafe.net/) +* [ZeroNet](https://zeronet.io/), another decentralized internet network that runs on Bitcoin cryptography and the [BitTorrent network](http://www.bittorrent.com/). [It on Ubuntu 17.10](http://127.0.0.1:43110/Talk.ZeroNetwork.bit/?Topic:1514631579_13fVMZu2wTNAykEvkYHYfGmTBMSFxz9gFG/It+would+be+good+if+you+could+link+to+a+comment). You can make [your own site](http://127.0.0.1:43110/1zz1z8YPFQizJshGkgHq7GVtBSPCyQM5W/), although [you may have issues with following a tutorial](http://127.0.0.1:43110/Blog.ZeroNetwork.bit/?Post:99:ZeroChat+tutorial#comment_1_13fVMZu2wTNAykEvkYHYfGmTBMSFxz9gFG). Note that this link won't work unless you are running ZeroNet.sh) by clicking the download button on the homepage (then as detailed concisely below the button) extracting it and running (in bash) `./ZeroNet.sh` while `cd`ed to the extracted folder that ZeroNet.sh is located in. +* storage, e.g. Swarm and a distributed hypermedia protocol, IPFS [website](https://ipfs.io/), [doc](https://github.com/ipfs/ipfs); +* communication protocols, e.g. Whisper (also see here for code), which allows dapps (you don't need to capitalize this since it is an abbreviation of decentralized applications) to communicate with each other; +* multi-chain networks/tools like [Polkadot](https://polkadot.io/) and [BTCRelay](http://btcrelay.org/) +* Ethereum Name Service (names like jamesray.eth map to an address); +* mesh networking e.g. implemented here and as voted for here on Twitter (which also has other ideas posted in the comments); +* social networks e.g. Akasha (news here), +* Status: "A Mobile Ethereum OS: Browse, chat and make payments securely on the decentralized web."; +* decentralized search engines, e.g. Weipoint (a news post is here); +* reputation and ratings network e.g. as used by [Etheal](https://etheal.com/), which is described below (CTRL+F); +* identity (e.g. as provided by uPort, as well as [in-blockchain proposal](https://www.ethnews.com/erc725-a-self-sovereign-identity-standard-for-ethereum and [Shyft](https://www.shyft.network/)); +* decentralized electricity trading and other decentralized energy economic applications, which would allow renewable energy to be more economical and accelerate the transition to a clean, renewable energy and safe climate future. + +Sun on Twitter Twemoji 2.3Wind Face on Twitter Twemoji 2.3Deciduous Tree on Twitter Twemoji 2.3Water Wave on Twitter Twemoji 2.3 + +Examples of local electricity trading include: Grid+, LO3/Transactive Grid, Power Ledger, Nexergy, Local Volts and Divvi. Grid+ uses Ethereum and they have open source code. Power Ledger has closed source code and runs on the Ethereum Enterprise Alliance, rather than the public Ethereum blockchain. They had a token sale in early October. Both Power Ledger and Grid+ also detail more unique applications in their pipeline, such as renewable energy asset generation (Power Ledger) and Grid+'s in-home computer, an "intelligent agent" that pays for a customers electricity in real-time, using stable tokens, stores cryptocurrency like the hardware wallet functions of Ledger and Trezor; providing Casper proof-of-stake signing, and provide an Ethereum API for IoT ([pp. 26 and 34-36, white paper](https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz90riPGRHquNDVXVE81RmppaUk/view)). Transactive Grid uses Ethereum and it has been rolled out in Brooklyn with a microgrid, however LO3 hasn't released any code or details for its Transactive Grid application. The others are still all under development (as of August 2017), and they have been scant on the details of how they would implement their application, at the least not releasing their code. Divvi say on its website that they will use the blockchain. Local Volts and Nexergy do not. +* electricity tokenization: e.g. SolarCoin, EnergyCoin, although both are altcoins rather than Ethereum tokens; +* governance of any organisation, e.g. Democracy.Earth; and also governance of DAOs, e.g. Aragon; +* decentralized search engines like [BitClave](https://www.bitclave.com/en/), [Weipoint](https://www.weipoint.com/) and [Epocum](https://www.stateofthedapps.com/dapps/epocum); +* wallets like MyEtherWallet or hardware wallets Trezor or Ledger; +* blockchain explorers like [Etherscan](https://etherscan.io/); +* a gateway to decentralized services such as [Infura](https://infura.io/); +* visit dapps in your browser with [Metamask](https://metamask.io/); +* decentralized media; +* asset titles (such as land titles). Read more on that here: "Having so far built the software and tested it with a couple dozen land title registrations, Bitfury and the Georgian National Agency of Public Registry have now signed a new memorandum of understanding to expand the service to purchases and sales of land titles, registration of new land titles, demolition of property, mortgages and rentals, as well as notary services". Nottar.io also provides notary services. A similar, more specific application is for academic certificates with [Smart Diploma](https://www.stateofthedapps.com/dapps/smart-diploma); +* Debit card 💳 transactions 🤝 (done on several exchanges 💱, e.g. Coinjar Swipe (but it accepts BTC only), Coinbase, while others which I've mentioned elsewhere in this article have plans to do this e.g. [OmiseGO](https://www.omise.co/go); +* co-ownership of real assets e.g. the [Swarm Fund](https://www.swarm.fund/how-swarm-works/index.html) +* crowdsales, e.g. an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) as compared with an Intial Public Offering (IPO), or for tokens with Ethereum: an Initial Token Offering (ITO). Note that this is not so much a business model in itself, per se, rather it is more of a fundraising method (which has also led to scams, e.g. here); +* crowd development (but not as part of the blockchain, e.g. here), e.g. for infrastructure and other public assets; +* think of public companies being remodelled into communities with tokens instead of shares, governance using a platform like Democracy.Earth (which can be tailored to have voting anywhere between one vote one person like direct democracy, or conventionally more hierarchical like a board of directors and token-holders instead of or in addition to—and probably eventually superceding—shareholders); +* dividend payouts and secure email-based transactions with [Dividend](https://www.dividend.cloud/). For sending ETH via email there is also [You've Got ETH](https://www.stateofthedapps.com/dapps/you-ve-got-eth); +* prediction 🔮 🦉 markets like GNOSIS, Augur and [WINGS DAO](https://www.stateofthedapps.com/dapps/wings-dao); +* [Built-in price discovery and a liquidity mechanism for tokens with Bancor](https://www.bancor.network/); +* labour/recruitment/freelance markets like Chronobank and [Ethlance](https://ethlance.com/); +* permissioned distributed ledgers like [Hydrachain](http://www.brainbot.com/projects#hydrachain); +* trust-based models like the [Trustlines Network](http://trustlines.network/) +* Secure distributed computing, e.g. Golem. Ethereum needs to be faster e.g. with EWASM and parallelizability. +* accountability, e.g. for non-profits (e.g. "how do I know how badly you need a donation unless I can see your net liabilities, net assets, and balance sheet, and how you plan to use the funds?") and aid (also see here) +* Self Learning, Autonomous, Decentralized Artificial Intelligence (this could be used for many things such as self-driving cars, robots, or anything else that is owned by a contract; bots; and art); +* decentralised financial services like [WeTrust](https://www.wetrust.io); +* futures-like dapps such as [TimeBank](https://www.stateofthedapps.com/dapps/timebank) and [hodlethereum](https://hodlethereum.com/); +* sharing car refueling stations with [Share&Charge](https://www.stateofthedapps.com/dapps/share-charge); +* health, e.g. [Etheal](https://etheal.com/), a healthcare service comparison site with a content platform, trust and review / reputation system; an anonymous marketing platform for surveys, ads and communication research where users are paid by pharmaceutical companies; and a platform for building health apps; +* examples of contracts are [here](https://solidity.readthedocs.io/en/develop/solidity-by-example.html) and [here](https://viper.readthedocs.io/en/latest/viper-by-example.html), e.g. voting, auctions (open or blind), safe remote purchases, micropayment channels, crowdfunding and company stock. Many more can be found on Github, which may be referenced from the whitepaper and the website of a dapp. +* [insurance](https://www.stateofthedapps.com/tagged/insurance/); + + +Examples that have been conceptualized, but not implemented (at least as far as the creator of this wiki is aware of) include: +* reducing transaction costs for existing business models (here is a good read about that). However, to tokenize online centric business models, the network model should change from client-server to peer-to-peer, to avoid a conflict of interest. This is more difficult to achieve since a server is a piece of infrastructure, and transferring to a peer-to-peer model would cause it to be a sunk cost. Additionally, it may be difficult to build a replacement dapp for a successful website, because it is hard to get a network of engaged users to change to using something else (inertia). Centralized web apps (not just mobile apps but websites, and use the word to contrast with dapps) include: +* * Google (although note [Weipoint](https://www.weipoint.com/) as mentioned previously), +* * social networks like [Facebook](http://www.trustnodes.com/2018/01/04/zuckerberg-studying-cryptocurrency-implementation-facebook), Twitter, (although note [Akasha](https://akasha.world/) above); +* * online marketplaces e.g. Amazon, eBay and Alibaba (decentralized alternatives include [Soma for products or services](https://soma.co/), [Canya for services](https://canya.io/) also note this simple implementation and subreddit [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethmarket/), as well as more specific or niche marketplaces like [Cryptokitties](https://www.cryptokitties.co/), [Hamster](https://hmstr.io/)). For more info see [here](https://www.forbes.com/sites/rogeraitken/2017/10/24/whats-the-future-of-online-marketplaces-blockchains-technology-impact/#3f6bde2a63a0) +* making economically viable other business models that have seen low uptake or aren't economically viable without blockchain tech. So-called sharing economy business models (which are more aptly called tasker or rentier capitalism models) like Airbnb, Uber, AirTasker, Fiverr, Upwork, TaskRabbit, and Menulog are particularly ripe for transformation (the term transformation is preferrable to disruption, since it should be a net positive change, while negative effects are manageable or solvable), since no trusted third party for a transaction is needed, such as banks 🏦, credit card 💳 companies or PayPal, just a smart contract; and +* mortgage brokers; +* More examples are here—scroll to the examples—they have bold headings and are about two thirds of the way down, or search for "Dank meme trading". Note that the Basic Attention Token has already been mentioned, and the creator of this wiki is skeptical that AI will create truly beautiful art, since no AI can have any feeling. CryptoKitties is an example of meme trading and has taken up [a lot of the transactions on the Ethereum network](https://etherscan.io/address/0x06012c8cf97bead5deae237070f9587f8e7a266d). +* curation markets, which is part of what [Steemit](https://steemit.com/@jamesray/feed) does (which runs on the STEEM network), and which curators, social networks and wiki authors would all benefit from. More info is [here](https://medium.com/@simondlr/introducing-curation-markets-trade-popularity-of-memes-information-with-code-70bf6fed9881); +* [P2P Decentralised Autonomous Transportation Network](http://www.flyingcarpet.network/) +* [Waste collection management](https://twitter.com/JamesCRay01/status/936992945173020672). Other ideas include plus generally thinking of existing business models running on the blockchain, like real estate developers and investment trusts (with which blockchains could be used e.g. for crowdfunding). +* legally enforceable wills running on the blockchain, as well as being able to appoint an executor in a legally enforceable way on the blockchain. + +More examples are e.g. [here in a blog post](https://medium.com/@Ethereum_AI/ethereum-introduction-what-exactly-is-it-why-care-how-to-invest-9a627ab04408) and [here on Wikipedia](https://github.com/Ethereum-community/Ethereum-introduction/wiki/Decentralised-apps-(dapps)) diff --git a/Ethereum-introduction.md b/Ethereum-introduction.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000..8d6a862fb --- /dev/null +++ b/Ethereum-introduction.md @@ -0,0 +1,277 @@ +![Ethereum Homestead gold ingots](https://sustergy.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/ethereum-homestead-background-17.jpg?w=1000) + +Note that due to the lightning-fast pace of development in the Ethereum space with core development and dapps continually being launched, certain parts of this article may be outdated. You can help by keeping it up to date! + + + +Table of Contents +================= + + * [Table of Contents](#table-of-contents) + * [About Ethereum](#about-ethereum) + * [Uses](#uses) + * [List of dapps](#list-of-dapps) + * [Market analysis](#market-analysis) + * [Issues](#issues) + * [Scalability](#scalability) + * [Proof of work / proof of stake / other proving methods](#proof-of-work--proof-of-stake--other-proving-methods) + * [Public permissionless blockchains vs. private permissioned blockchains](#public-permissionless-blockchains-vs-private-permissioned-blockchains) + * [No technological artefacts can be a panacea](#no-technological-artefacts-can-be-a-panacea) + * [How do you buy and sell Ether, the currency of Ethereum?](#how-do-you-buy-and-sell-ether-the-currency-of-ethereum) + * [Table of exchanges](#table-of-exchanges) + * [More details about what I've tried (not very necessary to know)](#more-details-about-what-ive-tried-not-very-necessary-to-know) + * [Development](#development) + * [Concluding remarks](#concluding-remarks) + * [Further reading](#further-reading) + +# About Ethereum +Ethereum is a [decentralized](https://medium.com/@VitalikButerin/the-meaning-of-decentralization-a0c92b76a274) blockchain platform for "building unstoppable applications", while Ether is the cryptocurrency used on this platform. Ethereum has been described in several ways, such as (the first and third resources are more general introductions, while the second is a technical introduction, although all are outdated. +Another introduction is available [here](https://bitsonblocks.net/2016/10/02/a-gentle-introduction-to-ethereum/), but again, it is outdated. Despite being outdated, Ethereum has maintained backwards compatibility thus far up till January 1 2018, so the info is still relevant.): + +Let's briefly breakdown what those terms mean. + +**Decentralized** technology uses [peer-to-peer computer networks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer-to-peer) (there's a picture below), and are not subject to the whims of a central authority such as a government or server administrator (like Google or Facebook) which can help to achieve better decision making for public good. **Blockchain** means that the currency is built and secured by adding and verifying blocks of transactions to blocks made previously, thus forming a "chain". Blocks added to the chain become harder and harder to crack over time, as they are verified by more nodes in the blockchain peer-to-peer network. Blockchain technology has been referred to as the **Web 3.0**. The world wide web (retroactively the Web 1.0) consisted of websites publishing content and users passively reading/viewing it. The Web 2.0 used user interaction, such as forums (with upvoting and commenting), reaction buttons (e.g. the Facebook reactions: likes 👍, love ❤️ , laughter 😆, wow 😲, sad 😢, angry 😠), sharing (republishing), however these interactions have no direct economic effect on the host website; users do not share in the value generated from the website. The Web 3.0 is starting to be defined as the movement away from centralisation of computation power in servers which provide services to clients (known as the client-server network model) to peer-to-peer networks and blockchains, and from centralisation of authority and sovereignty from nation-states and corporations to the networked individual. + +![server-based-network](https://sustergy.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/200px-server-based-network-svg.png) +![p2p-network](https://sustergy.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/200px-p2p-network-svg.png) + +**Cryptocurrency** refers to a a digital currency that secures transactions with cryptographic code, which is solved through hardware computational power (known as mining or proof of work) or other less energy-intensive ways such as proof-of-stake. (There are more details on that below.) + +Zero knowledge proofs like ZK SNARKs can also be used to make cryptocurrency transactions more private 🕵️ or secret 🤐 (which is different to being secure 🔒), thus negating the need to run applications on a permissioned private network like the [Ethereum Enterprise Alliance](https://entethalliance.org/). Ethereum uses [precompiled contracts for addition and scalar multiplication on the elliptic curve alt_bn128](https://github.com/ethereum/EIPs/pull/213), for [pairing checks](https://github.com/ethereum/EIPs/pull/212), which permit [zk-SNARKs](https://blog.ethereum.org/2017/10/12/byzantium-hf-announcement/), also see [here](https://medium.com/@VitalikButerin/zk-snarks-under-the-hood-b33151a013f6), [as implemented](https://github.com/ethereum/EIPs#finalized-eips-standards-that-have-been-adopted) in the [Byzantium hard fork](https://blog.ethereum.org/2017/10/12/byzantium-hf-announcement/). There is also the Zerocoin protocol which is demonstrated by Zcoin (which plans to integrate Ethereum). + +# Uses +The platform part of Ethereum makes it much more useful than just a cryptocurrency. With it, you can create any decentralized application (known as a dapp, which works over a peer-to- peer network rather than a centralized client-server network 💻🕸️), so the functionality is only limited by what programs could potentially do and not do, and by consequence, what programmers develop, 👨‍💻 but it can theoretically be used for any economic or governance activity. + +## List of dapps + +For a list of dapps, visit [here](https://github.com/Ethereum-community/Ethereum-introduction/wiki/Decentralised-apps-(dapps)). + + +*** + + +However, there are several issues that will need to be resolved to help Ethereum be used to its full potential, which are described below. + +## Market analysis +As of the 1st of December 2017, [the market capitalisation of Ethereum is $32.6 billion USD](https://cryptolization.com/ethereum) (refer to the link for the latest figure), and [it has been in circulation possibly since 30 July 2015](https://github.com/jamesray1/homestead-guide/blob/32d2fa4ccfa3d45f8493a673a08247450d55fea0/source/introduction/the-homestead-release.rst#milestones-of-the-ethereum-development-roadmap), with the [first transaction using Ethereum on 8 August 2015](https://www.etherchain.org/account/0x5abfec25f74cd88437631a7731906932776356f9). Compare this with the next largest and the current largest cryptocurrency, [Bitcoin, with a market cap of $41.0 b. US](https://cryptolization.com/ethereum), where [it has been in circulation since January 2009](http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/10/10/111010fa_fact_davis). Technically, Ethereum has had a much faster growth rate, while more importantly for long term investment (I do not encourage speculation as that only causes volatility as has been seen) the fundamentals are much better than Bitcoin. While it is true that Bitcoin has more of a market and currency, e.g. in terms of more entities that will accept it as a form of payment, the creator of this wiki expects that time will change that (indeed the market cap of Ethereum recently surpassed half that of Bitcoin, around May 2017). Also, [the number of transactions of Ethereum surpassed that of several cryptocurrencies combined on 22 Nov 2017](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethereum/comments/7est9k/ethereum_is_now_processing_more_transactions_a/). However, note [this retort](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethereum/comments/7est9k/ethereum_is_now_processing_more_transactions_a/dq7a31u/). + +# Issues +There also several issues with Ethereum, such as not being scalable enough, not being full decentralized, energy consumption with mining, if quantum computing advances it would be insecure (but this is being fixed). With its [large storage database](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/comments/7axn5g/ethereum_blockchain_sizewe_have_a_problem/) (I have to provide a [Reddit link](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/comments/7axn5g/ethereum_blockchain_sizewe_have_a_problem/) as a source as the [original link](https://etherscan.io/chart/chaindatasizefull) doesn't have the graph any more, while [Wayback doesn't render it either](https://web.archive.org/web/20171211015955/https://etherscan.io/chart/chaindatasizefull).), mining and architecture requiring to run a full node to mine or validate transactions, it is not decentralized enough. More (outdated but still applicable) info on that is e.g. [here](https://ethereum.stackexchange.com/questions/143/what-are-the-ethereum-disk-space-needs#826), as well as [here](https://github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum#full-node-on-the-main-ethereum-network). + +## Scalability + +Ethereum will need to scale to process far more transactions per second (to become a "world computer") than Visa, Mastercard and American Express combined (which process on the order of [tens of thousands of transactions per second](https://usa.visa.com/run-your-business/small-business-tools/retail.html) [in the link, CTRL+F 24,000]), while Ethereum 1.0, the current version as of December 30 2017, processed [a record of 1103523 transactions on Friday, December 22, 2017, or 12.77 transactions per second](https://web.archive.org/web/20171230005127/https://etherscan.io/chart/tx). + +Note that [Ripple claims that it's Consensus Ledger can process a thousand transactions per second](https://ripple.com/dev-blog/ripple-consensus-ledger-can-sustain-1000-transactions-per-second/), while it could process more with payment channels. "Although payment channels achieve practically infinite scalability by decoupling payment from settlement, they do so without incurring the risk typically associated with delayed settlement." Further note that Ripple achieves this by trading off on decentralization, through a [distributed network of validators or distributed servers](https://ripple.com/build/xrp-ledger-consensus-process/), while it has been described as a [federation protocol](https://wiki.ripple.com/Federation_protocol). + +There are even more scalable blockchains that use a delegated proof of stake (DPOS) consensus protocol, such as Bitshares and Steem. [Bitshares can apparently process 100,000 TPS](https://bitshares.org/technology/industrial-performance-and-scalability/). + +More generally, in order to have faster payments or higher transaction throughput, you need to reduce the number of validators (miners are a kind of validator that perform energy intensive computational work, finding a random nonce or sequence number in a large set of numbers) in the consensus protocol, or reduce the other (i.e. for faster payments you can reduce transaction throughput or reduce validators, while for higher transaction throughput you can reduce validators or have payments take longer to finalize). This is [a trade-off triangle](https://twitter.com/VladZamfir/status/932319930363494400). You could potentially have one blockchain with [heterogeneous sharding](https://twitter.com/VladZamfir/status/932320997021171712), with different shards with a different degree of balance between these properties. Ethereum is working on [sharding](https://github.com/ethereum/sharding/blob/develop/docs/doc.md), which includes using [stateless clients](https://github.com/ethereum/sharding/blob/develop/docs/doc.md#stateless-clients) (while more on that is [here](https://ethresear.ch/t/the-stateless-client-concept/172/14)). + +If you increase scalability in an instant via some blockchain or shard, while keeping latency constant (or reducing it) you need to reduce decentralization, which reduces the number of points of attack needed to compromise the whole network, i.e. reducing decentralization reduces security. + +## Proof of work / proof of stake / other proving methods +The mining process to crack cryptographic code (specifically to discover the nonce, a very large number, for each block by trial and error) requires a lot of computation power. Nevertheless, I'm guessing that the computation power should be less when you consider the energy consumption of incumbent financial systems. (Think of extracting and processing resources to make coins and notes, minting and printing, energy consumption of banks and tiers of related energy consumption in the life cycle of fiat money.) Still, developers of some cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum are transitioning to (as is the case for Ethereum), or already using, a different way of maintaining and creating blocks, known as proof of stake. For more information, you can see this Proof of Stake Wikipedia article here (although note the header warning about the article potentially not being verifiable or neutral due to relying heavily on sources too closely associated to the subject). The tricky part is in getting proof methods to work better than proof of work, as outlined here in the criticism section of the PoS Wiki. + +## No technological artefacts can be a panacea +For the continual improvement of humanity, there needs to be balance in life between things that benefit us materially and things that benefit us on higher levels, particularly spiritually. There is a risk that technology can make some people better off, and others worse off. So there needs to be consideration for how technology can be implemented to maximise [utility](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utilitarianism). One consideration of that is [here](https://medium.com/@RhysLindmark/co-evolving-the-phase-shift-to-cryptocapitalism-by-founding-the-ethereum-commons-co-op-f4771e5f0c83). + +## There's a risk of attacks from quantum computing, if it becomes performant enough + + + +# How do you buy and sell Ether, the currency of Ethereum? + +Summary: compare deals with buying and sell through different exchanges such as P2P ones with an arbitrator like [**LocalEthereum**](https://localethereum.com), or with centralized exchanges (which vary with your local jurisdiction, e.g. in Australia there is [BTCmarkets](https://btcmarkets.net/fees) and in the US plus worldwide there is [Coinbase](https://www.coinbase.com), which also allows you to spend cryptocurrencies e.g. with a debit card. For more see the table below, [here](https://github.com/jamesray1/Ethereum-introduction/wiki/Ethereum-introduction#table-of-exchanges)). + +The simplest way may be to use [**LocalEthereum**](https://localethereum.com), where you don't need to go through KYC processes. The creator of this wiki has found that "I can **sell Ether for a better deal** than I can find with an exchange, without any trading or withdrawal fees, apart from those associated with different payment methods". I like that it has lower fees compared to exchanges. I also read about how the localethereum platform works, and it seems pretty secure. The maker fee (which is what the party of the trade that puts up the offer) is 0.25% while the taker fee is 0.75%. [BTCmarkets](https://btcmarkets.net/fees) has higher fees compared to the maker fee, and higher than the taker fee if the amount is below $3000. Additionally, there have been hacks with exchanges like Mt. Gox and Bithumb. That's harder to achieve with localethereum since they can't get access to your funds, they can only settle disputes (if they arise) by sending the funds in the escrow to the buyer or the seller. However, I have been able to find a **better deal**, at least at certain times, with buying Ether if I buy through [**BTCmarkets**](https://btcmarkets.net/fees), although that would be slower via BPAY with bank transfer than paying via cash deposit via an ATM or bank." + +More information about Ether is [here](http://ethdocs.org/en/latest/ether.html). + +Disclaimer from the creator of this wiki: I have put most of my funds in Ether, the currency of Ethereum. Does that shock you? 😲 Yep, it's risky, but I've done due diligence 🔍 with fundamental analysis, and a little bit of sentiment and technical analysis, and I think that the market cap of Ether will continue to grow 🌱🌳 and increase, albeit with some volatility 📈. I consider it a digital currency that is in a pioneering, rapid growth stage of development (fuelled by a lot of genuine uptake of the currency as well as speculation about its future value, if not its current value), not just an asset. I hope my post will outline why investing in Ether is a good idea (and not just investing a small percentage of your cash, unless you are tied up with a mortgage 🏠 or have other monetary or non-monetary ties or circumstances that limit your investable capital). However, if you don't want to risk the downside volatility, e.g. if you don't have any risk capital, then you may want to consider buying a stable coin like [Dai Coin](https://makerdao.com/) instead. + +Based on my research below, if you're in Australia 🇦🇺 (otherwise skip to the next paragraph), I recommend creating an account with BTCmarkets.net, verifying your ID, and using BPAY or PoliPayments to deposit AUD. Note that the rest of the following info in this paragraph is outdated since MEBank used to not support BPAY publicly, but now they do. If your bank doesn't support PoliPayments and you want to use that instead of BPAY, although I can't think of any good reason why you'd want to use PoliPayments over BPAY, then you can set up a bank account with BOQ (or any other bank that supports POLi Payments, doesn't invest in fossil fuels and has no fees for transaction and savings accounts [note that Bendigo doesn't have an Ultimate Everyday account any more]. You can probably ignore the interest rate since it is so marginal compared to other bank's rates and the gains that you are likely to make by holding funds with Ether instead. However, when I did research for interest rates I found that ME Bank savings rates were second only to UBank, which invests in fossil fuels indirectly as it is owned by NAB. + +## Table of exchanges + +You can use [localethereum](https://localethereum.com) anywhere, but in my experience you may not get as good a deal as buying it on a local exchange. + +If you're not in Australia 🇦🇺, then here's a comparison of exchange rates 💱 for fiat to crypto- and crypto- to crypto- currencies (note that there is still a focus on Australia, but you can click on the links to get more information of the fees): + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
 Exchange link (may go to a fees page)Fiat to crypto exchange fee buy/sell spread
BTCmarketsAUD is the only fiat currency. 0.85% trading fee. Funds available to deposit, withdraw, buy and sell are: AUD, ETH, ETC, BTC and LTC. To deposit AUD, you need to verify your account and then use POLi Payments (available banks are here. My bank is ME Bank, which doesn't support POLi Payments. I applied with BOQ because they do support POLi Payments, they don't invest in fossil fuels [like ME Bank] and they have transaction and savings accounts with no fees [like ME Bank].)
GDAX0.25/.3% maker fee low volume, 0% taker fee BTC for USD/EUR/GBP, ETH/LTC for USD/BTC/EUR
Coinjar, has a debit card with accounts for Ether, BTC, XRP and LTC.1.00% AUD/BTC (and only AUD/BTC)
CoinbaseIn Aus: 3.99% credit/debit card only (no other transaction method accepted). Other fiat and crypto currencies are available.
CEX7% BTC/ETH for USD/EUR/GBP/RUB
ice3x1% ZAR/BTC
LunoZAR/BTC fee not easy to find
okcoinCNY/USD for BTC/LTC, fee not easy to find
MaicoinTN/BTC Fee not shown, claimed none
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Crypto to crypto exchange fee / buy/sell spread
Poloniex0.15/.25% BTC/ETH “maker-taker” (presumably the same as buy-sell)
gdax.com/fees/0.25/.3% maker fee low volume, 0% taker fee ETH/LTC for BTC
Exodus~0.4720–.528% BTC/ETH variable. Desktop app. Sometimes currencies are not available for exchange!
NVODecentralised. ICO 05/27/17 02:00 UTC to 06/27/17 02:00 UTC
+ +Exchanges are listed in [this article](https://medium.com/@Ethereum_AI/ethereum-introduction-what-exactly-is-it-why-care-how-to-invest-9a627ab04408), which I've copied and pasted (repetition is OK): + +**America, US dollars** + +https://www.coinbase.com + +https://gemini.com/ + +**Australian Dollar** + +https://btcmarkets.net/ + +**Canadian Dollar** + +https://www.quadrigacx.com + +**Chinese Yuan** + +https://www.huobi.com + +https://www.okcoin.com + +https://yunbi.com + +**European Euros** + +https://www.kraken.com + +**India** + +https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Ethereum+exchange+india&t=brave&ia=web + +**Mexican Peso** + +https://bitso.com + +**South Korean Won** + +https://coinone.co.kr/ + +https://www.bithumb.com/ + +## More details about what I've tried (not very necessary to know) + +I bought BTC in a different way. Step 2 worked for me. I will try step 1 next time I buy more BTC. + +I created an account on btcmarkets.net, verified my email address, tried to login, but couldn't. I tried to disable two factor authentication, but it asked for my mobile number, which I didn't enter when I created my account. I tried to reset my password and log in again, but that didn't work. I entered my email address correctly. I sent a message to support to ask for help. I figured out that my password was too long, and have notified btcmarkets.net. After creating a password of 23 characters, I was able to log in. I created another password of 56 characters using Chinese characters, emojis and ASCII characters, and was able to log in. (Incidentally, it is a hassle to do this, so a decentralised, private password generator would be wonderful.) + +The following steps are what I have tried so far, in detail. +
    +
  1. Convert AUD to Bitcoin (BTC) via an exchange like Coinjar. I left a review of Coinjar here. Fee: 1%. While this step is tailored for Australia, it can be adapted to any country that has a bitcoin exchange.
    2. +
  2. I created a Poloniex account, sent funds from got the Bitcoin deposit address, then sent my BitGo funds to that address. Once the transaction completed, I then used Poloniex Exchange to convert to Eth, with a maker-taker fee of: 0.15/0.25%.
    3. +
+Before step 2 above, I tried the following: +
    +
  1. Create an Ethereum Wallet 👛 like MyEtherWallet. Unfortunately Mist, a program being developed by Ethereum that has a browser and a wallet is still a pre-release, so it may not be very suitable for end users just yet.
    2. +
  2. Convert BTC to Ether (ETH) via a cryptocurrency exchange like Shapeshift. Use a precise transaction, make sure the amount is within the min. and max. deposit. Copy and paste the bitcoin address in Coinjar by signing in (if you aren't already) and going to Accounts > Everyday Bitcoin > View address. Put this address as the refundable address. Copy and paste the address from MyEtherWallet. Put this as the destination address. Tick the box to save the destination address for future payments. However, this didn't work.
    3. +
+I also sent an email to Coinjar to suggest that they develop functionality for purchasing Ether directly using AUD. You can do the same with the exchange of your choice. + +I have been able to deposit funds into Coinjar (needing to be less than the transaction limits) but have not been able to get Eth funds as of yet. I have also tried to create an account on BitGo, send coins from Coinjar to BitGo, and use Shapeshift with that account and still with MyEtherWallet, however that didn't work. + +I will not discuss trading (which I mean buying with the intention to sell most or all of the purchase at any future time particularly in the short term in order to realize a profit) as I am not very interested in trying to guess the short-term direction of markets (although I admit that trading helps to provide liquidity). + +# Development +Are you interested in learning to develop smart contracts with Ethereum, and maybe develop a really useful dapp and become a millionaire? + +Check out the [Ethereum website](https://www.ethereum.org/)! Then, you can [read the Solidity docs](https://solidity.readthedocs.io/en/develop/). + +If you want to help contribute to core development, there is also: +* the [Yellow Paper](https://github.com/ethereum/yellowpaper/pull/376) (make sure that you read the [EIPs](https://github.com/ethereum/EIPs) too since as of Dec 8 it is not up-to-date with the last commit on August 8, while the Constantinople EIPs were implemented in October). Instead I recommend ; +* Learn Python first, e.g. with [Learn Python the Hard Way](https://www.learnpythonthehardway.org/) (I learnt using this, it's pretty good), [Codecademy](https://www.codecademy.com/learn/learn-python), [Pydocs](https://docs.python.org/3/), [Coursera](https://www.coursera.org/courses?languages=en&query=learn+python), etc. Knowing Python is useful for [pyethereum](https://github.com/ethereum/pyethereum), which is being used as an Ethereum client, to implement Serenity and sharding, as well as [vyper](https://github.com/ethereum/Vyper), an experimental, secure smart contract programming language; +* [LLL](https://media.consensys.net/an-introduction-to-lll-for-ethereum-smart-contract-development-e26e38ea6c23) (also see [here](https://github.com/ethereum/solidity/tree/develop/liblll) and [here](https://github.com/ethereum/solidity/tree/develop/lllc)); +* [JULIA](https://solidity.readthedocs.io/en/develop/julia.html), an intermediate language for different Ethereum virtual machines; +* clients such as [Geth](https://github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum), [Parity](https://github.com/paritytech/parity) which is under [Parity Tech](https://github.com/paritytech) a separate organization to the Ethereum Foundation, [C++ Ethereum](https://github.com/ethereum/cpp-ethereum), [Pyethereum](https://github.com/ethereum/pyethereum); +* [Serenity](https://github.com/ethereum/pyethereum/tree/serenity); +* [sharding](https://github.com/ethereum/sharding/blob/develop/docs/doc.md); +* [research](https://github.com/ethereum/research) such as stateless clients, sharding, scalability improvements, Casper and more; +* [EWasM](https://github.com/ewasm); +* if you're interested in testing, see the documentation [here](https://ethereum-tests.readthedocs.io/en/latest/), as well as [the Github tests repo](https://github.com/ethereum/tests), [a Gist here (it is outdated)](https://gist.github.com/Souptacular/fd197b1fac7c6d2660b0bef27a33ed40#lll-and-evm-stack-resources), and [Gitter here](https://gitter.im/ethereum/tests) ; and +* [many other repositories](https://github.com/ethereum). + +# Concluding remarks + +Ether certainly seems like a good investment, and a good alternative to using fiat currencies, as well as an enabler for otherwise uneconomical business, due to lower transaction costs. It's more decentralized nature than central banks has advantages for trade from a local to global scale. With governance applications and systems on top Ethereum, it is even possible to do away with the hindering borders surmounted by nation-states. By doing away with these borders, society can be more open, inclusive and equitable. + +However, all technology can only help mankind and the world to a certain extent. What is more important is for each and every person to become increasingly blissful. Each person must go within and enter a stillness of body and mind, which is when that bliss starts to manifest, and practice balanced living. Practicing certain techniques such as those given by Self-Realization Fellowship, such as daily Kriya yoga meditation, developing unconditional love that starts in the heart, keeping the mind at the point between the eyebrows, and moral living, helps each person manifest that bliss within, and from there, express that bliss outwardly at all times. + +# Further reading + +* [Another introduction](https://github.com/jamesray1/Ethereum-introduction/wiki/Ethereum-introduction) +* [MyEtherWallet knowledge base (good for issues with wallets)](https://myetherwallet.github.io/knowledge-base/) +* [An introduction (Frontier first release, outdated)](https://ethereum.gitbooks.io/frontier-guide/content/ethereum.html) +* [Here's another introduction, made in November 2017](https://medium.com/@Ethereum_AI/ethereum-introduction-what-exactly-is-it-why-care-how-to-invest-9a627ab04408) +* [Ethereum community on Gitter](https://gitter.im/ethereum) +* [Ethereum research forum](https://ethresear.ch/) +* [Correct by construction Casper prototype](https://ethresear.ch/t/the-correct-by-construction-casper-paper-prototype-published-at-devcon-tear-it-apart/196) +* [Casper the Friendly Finality Gadget](https://ethresear.ch/t/latest-casper-basics-tear-it-apart/151/57) +* [The stateless client concept](https://ethresear.ch/t/the-stateless-client-concept/172) +* [Ethereum 2 and alternative PoS implementations](https://ethresear.ch/t/ethereum-2-and-alternative-pos-implementations/190/7) +* [Ethereum wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethereum) +* [Ethereum and the hodlers that love them](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/comments/6jyn9y/ethereum_the_hodlors_that_love_them/) + + +This article was originally created here in May 2017, and has been regularly updated since then: https://sustergy.wordpress.com/2017/05/18/why-buy-ether-and-how/. Feel free to send a donation to the initial author at jamesray.eth, or make edits to it yourself, or fork it! diff --git a/LICENSE b/LICENSE new file mode 100644 index 000000000..40d9af62e --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE @@ -0,0 +1,5 @@ +The license for this repository is CC BY-SA 4.0. + +A human-readable summary (and not a substitute) of the license is [here](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). + +The license is [here](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode).