Ethereum is a decentralized platform based on blockchain that runs smart contracts.
Smart Contracts are applications that run exactly the way they are programmed to run without any interference from a third-party, any fraud, censorship or downtime. Ethereum is a blockchain app platform that can be used to represent the ownership of property, move value around across the globe and allow developers to create markets.
The Ethereum project is developed by The Ethereum Foundation, which is a Swiss non-profit organization and the presale of Ethereum tokens happened in August, 2014.
Why Ethereum For Apps?
Our traditional server architecture requires every app to set up its own server that makes data sharing hard. When an app goes down, a large number of users and dependent apps get affected. This is not the case with Ethereum.
Blockchain allows anyone to set up his own node that replicates the data necessary for the nodes to reach an agreement and be compensated by app developers and users. This ensures that the user data remains private and apps remain decentralized.
Ethereum Wallet
Ethereum wallet allows you to hold and transact in Ether and other Ethereum based crypto-assets. It is the gateway to decentralized applications and you need it to use smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain.
Solidity
You can use the Solidity language for smart contracts and issuing your own cryptocurrency. You can create a tradeable digital token and use it in a variety of ways, such as a representation of an asset, a virtual share, membership proof, currency, voting right and much more.
The tokens use a standard Coin API and your smart contract will be compatible with any wallet, contract or exchange using the same API. You can set the total amount of tokens to a fixed number or fluctuate it based on the business logic suitable for your project.
Smart Contracts & Trustless Crowdsale
If you already have an idea that you want to bring to life on Ethereum, you will probably need some funds. However, why would anybody fund your project if they don't trust you. You can create a smart contract that can hold the investor's money until a certain goal is achieved or until a specific date. You won't need a central authority, an arbitrator or any third-party to make this happen. Smart contracts can handle that.
Smart Contracts & Creating An Organization
Once, you have a business idea and secure funds for your project through the smart contracts, you need an organization like a company to work on your project. You can create a democratic organization that works anonymously using the smart contracts. Members will be able to vote on issues and being decentralized, it will have 100% uptime.
Decentralized Apps(DApps)
You can bring your ideas to life by creating a decentralized app on the Ethereum network. Unlike a regular web app, with a decentralized app, you get several things for free, such as
Trust
Your users can trust you as the backend code can be inspected and the frontend code is anyway available on the browser. Users trust the decentralized apps because no company or central authority is gathering user data.
User Credentials
Users already have an account which is their private or public key on the blockchain that binds with their session and metadata. So, no need to sign up with a social media account n all.
Logs
Ethereum smart contracts can create their own logs so no need to create separate logs for your DApp.
Database
You will probably not like to store all the data on the Ethereum Blockchain for your app but the most important data sets can be stored on the blockchain.
Payments
You don't need to integrate any payment processor like PayPal, Stripe, etc. with your app to accept payments from the users. Users can transact using 'Ether' for the services.
DApps, whether mobile or web interact with smart contracts. It can be greatly advantageous to use a decentralized protocol as a backend and operate with stored value on predefined terms & without intermediaries.
Thank you for reading my post. It was to give you a brief idea about the Ethereum Blockchain network and the Smart Contracts. I will continue posting more on Ethereum in future as well. I feel, you have got an overview of the Ethereum, Smart Contracts and Solidity. So, get ready to dive into Solidity programming.