Ethereum is a global, open-source platform
for decentralized applications.
Ethereum is the foundation for a new era of
the internet:
An internet where money and payments are built
in.
An internet where users can own their data,
and your apps don’t spy and steal from you.
An internet where everyone has access to an
open financial system.
An internet built on neutral, open-access
infrastructure, controlled by no company or
person.
Launched in 2015, Ethereum is the world’s
programmable blockchain.
Like other blockchains, Ethereum has a native
cryptocurrency called Ether.
ETH is digital money.
Ether has many of the same features like bitcoin.
It is purely digital, and can be sent to anyone
anywhere in the world instantly.
The supply of ether isn’t controlled by
any government or company - it is decentralized,
and it is scarce.
People all over the world use ether to make
payments, as a store of value, or as collateral.
Ethereum is programmable, which means that
developers can use it to build new kinds of
applications.
These decentralized applications gain the
benefits of cryptocurrency and blockchain
technology.
They are reliable and predictable, meaning
that once they are “uploaded” to Ethereum,
they will always run as programmed.
They can control digital assets in order to
create new kinds of financial applications.
They can be decentralized, meaning that no
single entity or person controls them.
Right now, thousands of developers all over
the world are building applications on Ethereum,
and inventing new kinds of applications, many
of which you can use today:
Cryptocurrency wallets that let you make cheap,
instant payments with ETH or other assets.
Financial applications that let you borrow,
lend, or invest your digital assets.
Decentralized markets, that let you trade
digital assets, or even trade “predictions”
about events in the real world.
Games where you own in-game assets, and can
even make real money and much, much more.
The Ethereum community is the largest and
most active blockchain community in the world.
It includes core protocol developers, cryptoeconomic
researchers, artists, cypherpunks, mining
organizations, Ether holders, gamers, app
developers, grandmothers, anarchists, fortune
500 companies.
There is no company or centralized organization
that controls Ethereum.
Ethereum is maintained and improved over time
by a diverse global community of contributors
who work on everything from the core protocol
to consumer applications.
This website, just like the rest of Ethereum,
was built - and continues to be built - by
a collection of people working together.
