[Crypto Getting Started #5] Top 10 Highlights from Ethereum Whitepaper (Part 1)

in #ethereum7 years ago (edited)
  • The link to the official Ethereum whitepaper is here.
  • How to read a whitepaper? You can refer to this article.

  1. What kind of blockchain structure does it use?
    Linked list (same as in Bitcoin)

  2. What kind of consensus design does it use (e.g. PoW, PoS, DPoS)?
    PoW at the moment (meaning that the nodes need to show the proof-of-work in order to become the block producer), but after the Casper upgrade (timing TBD), it will move towards PoS1.

  3. How does it reward everyone who supports its infrastructure? (including both miners and developers)

    • No matter it is using PoW or PoS, there are resources needed to produce the blocks, thus there will always need to be rewards for the producers (under PoW, they are also called miners).

    • The Ethereum block producers will collectively receive a constant amount of ether (the token on Ethereum blockchain) issued every year to reward them.

    • Ethereum organization initially also holds on to a certain amount of the ether to use as the fund to support its development.

  4. What can I use Ethereum for? How scalable is it (# of tx / sec)?
    Ethereum is designed to be the platform for developing decentralized applications. It does have scalability issues lately, hopefully the Casper upgrade and other innovations can come to the rescue!

  5. How to setup the node to mine “ether”?
    Ethereum mining is designed to be ASIC-resistant. Here, ASIC is short for Application-Specific Integrated Circuit, which is basically specialized chip designed just for mining purpose in this context. Being ASIC-resistant means that you can actually mine it with non-ASIC machines. This design is clearly noted in the whitepaper. The reason is that since the nodes that produce the blocks for Ethereum blockchain sometimes need to execute the Smart Contract, which can include arbitrary code. The ASIC for the Smart Contract is ultimately the ASIC for general computation, which is CPU or GPU. This is by design to avoid the mining centralization that happened in Bitcoin.

So far, we have listed out the top 5 highlights from Ethereum whitepaper. We will continue in part 2 to cover the remaining 5 highlights.


[1] Casper upgrade is a critical upgrade for Ethereum, PoS-based blockchains in general can handle way higher transaction volume per unit time than PoW-based blockchains. Yet, PoS-based blockchains also tend to be more “centralized”. PoS and related consensus design is also a hot area of research for blockchain. Latest examples include DPoS that empowers BitShares, Steemit and EOS. For more details on the differences between PoW and PoS, you can refer to this article.


(Image Source: The Merkle, Blockgeeks)

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Really awesome article! Thanks for sharing!

Very helpful post for beginners and a good refresher for why people should consider Ethereum. thanks!

Glad that you like it - more to come later in part 2 :)

Very good summary for those new to Ethereum. Thanks for posting it.

Thanks for the insights on ethereum

Thanks for this. Very succinct and helpful.

Thanks - my goal is to answer the complicated questions in a few sentences.

A good guide for begginers. i wish i had this when iam starting to invest in crypto :) thanks!

You are welcome!

I got into an argument with Vitalik the other day about fixed fees, sometimes I believe he wants to turn the project into a completely centralized network.

Interesting, I am curious - what is his response to the argument?

Screen Shot 2018-01-28 at 9.18.34 PM.png

Haha, I feel the arguments over whether A is more / less centralized than B (A and B can be of anything, really) will be a constant theme in the crypto world in 2018..

On a related note, I also found the arguments between BM and Vitalik on eos pretty interesting
https://steemit.com/eos/@dan/response-to-vitalik-buterin-on-eos

Thanks for the link, drama city. lol

can ethereum be bigger than btc?

What is your prediction? :)

probably no etherum cant overcome because btc and etherum looks like going different direction.. so, btc might be replace by another coin but not etherum so
whats ur thoughts?

Yup, that is a fair point - I agree that they are meant for different purpose and will prob go down different paths. I guess we will see how the future unfolds :)

Good step for transparency

hello friend @ cryptostories very good information about it was very useful to me the truth I follow you and vote. would be that you could give me a little help with my publication, it has something to do with yours is about the Bitcoin a greeting and thanks
https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@srmit/how-to-get-the-usd-from-steemit-to-localbitcoin

The step by step guide was pretty good. Keep up the work and enjoy steemit!

I’ve been meaning to get around to reading this. I’m trying to get the context for a lot of what I hear in the crypto sphere. I’ve already read bitcoins...thanks for the Etherium preview

Cool, glad that it helps.