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3 Key Reasons Why I Own Ether
The cryptocurrency of Ethereum
Ethereum is a decentralized open-source blockchain platform for smart contracts, which are self-executing computer programs with terms of the buyer and seller agreement directly embedded into lines of code. Ethereum features its own cryptocurrency, Ether, to power transactions on its platform. Even though Ether is second to Bitcoin in terms of its market capitalization, I see it as the more important cryptocurrency because Ethereum is the platform where much cryptocurrency-related development happens. My three key reasons on why I own Ether are as follows:
1. Ethereum Powers Decentralized Applications
2. Ethereum Hosts Tokens
3. Ethereum Has a Robust Developer Community
1. Ethereum Powers Decentralized Applications
A decentralized application is an application that runs on a blockchain platform instead of a centralized computer system owned and operated by an organization. Ethereum has the largest decentralized platform. Applications like Facebook and Twitter are centralized applications because they are owned and operated by their companies. On the flip side, decentralized applications that run on Ethereum like Uniswap (an automated token exchange), ZED (a racehorse game), and Minds (a censorship-resistant social network) are not controlled by a single organization.
Yes, some people and organizations can potentially have a lot of influence on a decentralized application. Still, the key benefit is that there is no centralized authority with ultimate control to do things such as ban someone from using an application or block a specific action of a person using an application. With decentralized applications, users do not have to put all their trust in a central authority, and there is less likely to be a single point of failure since the nature of decentralized applications is to operate peer to peer.
2. Ethereum Hosts Tokens
A token is a virtual currency that operates on a blockchain platform. Tokens are fungible and tradeable assets or securities. Ethereum primarily hosts tokens via its ERC-20 Token Standard. The benefit of tokens running on Ethereum is that instead of its developers creating their own blockchain from…
