Explore the possibilities of Ethereum's smart contract feature
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© Photo by jesse orrico on Unsplash
The Ethereum cryptocurrency system lets you build programs into the blockchain to orchestrate complex transactions and document results. We'll show you how to get started with Ethereum's smart contracts.
Digital currencies have had quite a lot of buzz around them in recent years, with Bitcoin being the most famous. Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious creator of Bitcoin, had the idea to use Bitcoin as a store of value, like gold. For that reason, Bitcoin was designed for the limited purpose of trading and holding value.
When Vitalik Buterin and others designed the first version of Ethereum [1], they wanted to extend the blockchain concept to include other kinds of transactions. Ethereum is built around the concept of a smart contract. A smart contract is a program embedded in the blockchain that automatically manages, controls, and documents actions taken for a predetermined purpose. A smart contract allows the creator to implement a contract or agreement without the need for traditional oversight and enforcement.
Bitcoin is thought to have some rudimentary support for smart contracts in the context of its role as a digital currency – to support features such as escrows and multisignature accounts, but Ethereum expands the concept to support a much wider range of transactions and arrangement. For instance, Ethereum was the first blockchain technology to support non-fungible tokens (NFTs) [2], and Ethereum is still the most popular tool for creating NFTs.
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