Origin of Ethereum
Russian programmer Vitalik Buterin described how Ethereum works in a white paper in late 2013. Buterin was an active programmer and member of the crypto community who was convinced that Bitcoin needed a programming language to develop applications on the blockchain.
As his proposal to modify Bitcoin was not adopted, Vitalik decided to create a new platform. In January 2014, he announced the Ethereum project and soon after, the development began with four other people, with whom he created a foundation, located in Switzerland.
The main objective of this working group was to build a system that would allow the creation of programmable contracts that, upon an entry order, return an exit order, and that being written in the blockchain are immutable, that is, they cannot be modified.
This development provided the necessary elements for the creation of decentralized applications, also known as DApps.
How Ethereum was funded
Ethereum had a public online collective sale (ICO) between July and August 2014. In this ICO you could buy the Ethereum (Ether) token at a very low price and, if the project worked, make a profit.
Ethereum raised about 18 million dollars and obtained not only the necessary funds to continue development, but also gave birth to a wave of projects that adopted this form of financing.
As part of Ethereum's genesis block, initial buyers were allocated 60 million Ether. And another 12 million were given to the development fund that was distributed among the first users and the Ethereum Foundation.
On July 30, 2015, the first Ethereum block was mined in just 20 seconds, compared to the 10 minutes it takes to mine one of Bitcoin. Another significant difference is that while the rules of issuance and commissions in Bitcoin do not change, in Ethereum they are flexible and can vary according to the needs of the network.
