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Ethereum Could Be Worth More Than Bitcoin Very Soon (inc.com)

Ethereum is an open software platform based on blockchain technology that enables developers to build and deploy decentralized applications, according to Blockgeeks. It is currently the second most valuable cryptocurrency on the planet, but it could overthrow Bitcoin and become the most valuable cryptocurrency in the near future. Inc.com reports: If you aren't familiar, what Bitcoin does for payments, Ethereum does for anything involving programming and computing. While it utilizes its own version of a blockchain, it is functionally different from Bitcoin. For example, on the Ethereum platform you could host a crowdfunding campaign or any type of "smart contract." Ethereum's goal is to make a decentralized internet. And it has a very good shot at becoming "the new internet," literally. It could one day replace a lot of technology and ways that we host and execute code online. As of the time of writing, Ethereum has a market cap of over $17 billion. Bitcoin's market cap is $34 billion. This makes Ether (the name of Ethereum's token) the second most valuable cryptocurrency in the world. And that number jumped up over $3 billion just yesterday. It's making a major climb and has no end in sight, according to many. The Enterprise Ethereum Alliance is what initially spiked major interest (and shot up the price). Just the other day, 86 new companies joined the alliance.

35 of 84 comments (clear)

  1. Ether Holder Here by WoodburyMan · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I have been holding Ether since February and have been accumulating other ERC20 tokens (Golem, Gnosis, etc) that also run on the Etherium Blockchain. Back when I read Microsoft, Intel, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, The U.N., and tons of other Fin-Tech companies were getting in, I was intrigued and immediately converted the majority of my Bitcoin holdings over to Ether after dealing with VERY slow transaction times with Bitcoin and being fed up with it and the thread of a Bitcoin hard fork. Never looking back. Instant payment, low fees, backed by MAJOR tech and finance companies.

    1. Re:Ether Holder Here by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 3, Funny

      I think you bought either RapeCoins or AssCoins by mistake.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    2. Re:Ether Holder Here by edittard · · Score: 1

      The only thing you've been holding is your knob. You needed tweezers.

      --
      At the bottom of the /. main page it says 'Yesterday's News'. Well they got that right.
    3. Re:Ether Holder Here by Troed · · Score: 1

      Please let us know your views on PoS vs PoW - and what Ethereum will decide to use at some point. Also, please explain how it will solve scaling issues since it's more wasteful with block data than Bitcoin.

      (Not knowing how to secure the blockchain should be a showstopper, but alas ... )

  2. 2 "hard forks" already... pathetic! by ffkom · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Don't forget Etherium was the group touting "the code is the contract" until the very moment someone outsmarted their code, at which point they suddenly changed their mind.

    "Hard forking" whenever someone claims the system was abused does not scale to any reasonable size - a blockchain utilized by millions would require "hard forks" every day.

    1. Re:2 "hard forks" already... pathetic! by MassHallucination · · Score: 1

      Hard forks are a normal part of crypto-currency development. It's very difficult (or arguably impossible) to predict what the optimal crypto-protocol, or fork would be. The ideal of "code as contract" is still a ways off despite what the over-enthusiastic etherium developers are saying.

    2. Re:2 "hard forks" already... pathetic! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      http://lmgtfy.com/?q=ethereum+hard+fork+explained

      http://www.coindesk.com/ethereum-classic-explained-blockchain/
      https://qz.com/730004/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-ethereum-hard-fork/
      https://www.forbes.com/sites/francescoppola/2016/11/26/ethereums-latest-hard-fork-shows-it-has-a-very-long-way-to-go/#4bd3cf9e443a

    3. Re:2 "hard forks" already... pathetic! by psyclone · · Score: 1

      Same way you "trust" a corporation that was hacked to secure their shit in the future? All depends on the company, some you keep trusting and some you don't.

      Just like a biological life form getting an infection - stronger if you can heal and not die.

  3. Ooooh, a funny money bubble! by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

    At least real estate was, you know, real. You might have paid too much for that California house, but you could still live in it and grill in the backyard. What happens when we get tired of tracking down ransomware scammers and kidnapping for untraceable ransom comes back into style, so Congress has the NSA poof the cryptocurrency exchanges?

    1. Re:Ooooh, a funny money bubble! by gijoel · · Score: 1

      Me, I always put my faith in Gold-Pressed Latinum.

    2. Re:Ooooh, a funny money bubble! by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      Rule of acquisition #263: Never let doubt interfere with your lust for Latinum.

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      #DeleteFacebook
  4. Betteridge snowclone: X "could be" Y by ADHD Z by epine · · Score: 1

    Does anyone even need to ask whether this is worse than ending a statement with a question mark?

    1. Re:Betteridge snowclone: X "could be" Y by ADHD Z by mpeskett · · Score: 1

      Betteridge proposed that any headline ending in a question mark could be answered with "No"

      I would hereby like to propose that any headline of the form "X could be Y by Z" can be answered with "So could my butt"

  5. Re:Does Ethereum solve anything? by WoodburyMan · · Score: 3, Informative

    You don't need the entire blockchain downloaded for Etherium or Bitcoin to work. That's only if you want a "Full Node" client. You can run Wallet apps on your system such as Jaxx, or use a Hardware wallet such as Ledge Nano, or a Paper Wallet via MyEtherWallet.com. For Etherium you can use browser plugins for dapps as well. Bandwith is a few kb and small download for the app.

  6. I wager 100 quatloos on the newcomer by Drunkulus · · Score: 1

    Kloog will administer correction.

  7. burp by thegreatbob · · Score: 1

    burp

    --
    There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...
  8. Re:What is pumping Etherium? by WoodburyMan · · Score: 1

    Bank of America and Microsoft demo'd a dapp built on Etherium the other week, and some of the 86+ companies added to the EEA today already have functional / testing functional uses for blockchain within their enterprises.

    Etherium is not just money. If you see it as such you're blind. Ether is the gas used for Etherium transactions to power the network and power it for corporate and global use. This site is a shadow of its former self, it seems there's less and less people that truly appreciate emerging techs on here.

  9. Re:What is pumping Etherium? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ETH is vulnerable in the same way that any Turing-complete language is.

    And that will be its downfall.

    The reason Bitcoin's scripting language has a limited command set and heavily scrutinized implementation is to prevent the kilometer-wide attack surface that such a language would allow. ETH already has had their share of problems regarding this, with 75% of the network going down during one of the devs roadshow conferences in China. All the devs had to leave the stage to resurrect the network, lol.

    Also, there are two prices, one is the ETH computing token traded price, and the other is a centrally-set "gas" price which is determined by the same group of "genuises" that couldn't forsee the network problem. I'm sure it will be entertaining to some when the distributed app you set up doesn't have enough "gas" to run during a critical demo.

    Using market cap to compare cryptocurrencies is a red herring too. I could make "SlashDotCoin" and offer 500 Billion units priced at 1 dollar each, and win that argument. It has no relation to utility whatsoever.

    But someone is pumping it, and showing everybody exactly what is meant by "misallocation of capital".

  10. Fads, all of them by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 2

    I keep my investments in ISK and gil!

  11. Re:What is pumping Etherium? by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 1

    What's keeping Etherium on the up and up?
    It certainly isn't real world use of Etherium, since that's non existent.
    It's nothing but a bubble caused by pure speculation.

    And what's keeping dollars on the up and up? They have no "real world use". Or for that matter, gold, which really doesn't have much use either; it makes nice jewelry, and its use in electrical contacts is minimal; neither justifies the value put on it.

  12. Missing the point by pat.ferrel2551 · · Score: 2

    This may have a side effect like a cryptocurrency but it misses the point. Ethereum is much much more, it is a blockchain platform to run anything on participating computers anywhere. Some projects include a distributed decentralized VPN, a version of GitHub where you are paid with Ether or other contract scrip, on and on. Its value is hard to understate if you look past cryptocurrency.

    1. Re:Missing the point by Jeremi · · Score: 1

      Its value is hard to understate if you look past cryptocurrency.

      I'm not sure that came out quite the way you intended :)

      --


      I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
  13. Re:Does Ethereum solve anything? by Darinbob · · Score: 1

    Bitcoin miners generally have lots of computer hardware, meaning they probably have good internet too. Other bitcoin users of note are drug dealers who have ways of smuggling large usb drives between buyers and sellers. The bitcoin losers are ransomware victims who keep saying "wait, don't delete my files yet, the upload says it needs another 29 hours!"

  14. Re: Does Ethereum solve anything? by Darinbob · · Score: 1

    The fact that the value jumped by $3 billion doesn't mean it's worth that much more, it just means that the bubble expanded. A bubble that big is a disincentive to buy, it could burst between the time you buy and sell. This stuff is as meaningless as the newspapers reporting which startup with no achievable means of creating a product is worth the most.

    In other words, just another way to separate a fool from his money. These crypto currencies are highly volatile and if you're an early adopter then the way to get rich is to fool people into thinking it's the next big thing.

  15. Wow... sponsored content + hype == riches by endoboy · · Score: 2

    1) blatantly self promoting slashdot "article"
    2) magic....
    3) profit!

  16. Re:What is pumping Etherium? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Oh my god, there's so much misinformation, it's hard to know where to start. 75% of the DISTRIBUTED network across the globe did not go down. Gas is not set centrally, it's set by each miner themselves. You think Toyota, Samsung, Intel, Microsoft, etc etc are backing a "pump and dump"? Go pedal your misinformation elsewhere.

  17. Yay for faux currency! by Chas · · Score: 1

    News: Unicorn farts will soon be more valuable than fairy piss! Film at 11!

    --


    Chas - The one, the only.
    THANK GOD!!!
    1. Re:Yay for faux currency! by David_Hart · · Score: 1

      News: Unicorn farts will soon be more valuable than fairy piss! Film at 11!

      No it won't... Fairy piss turns to fair dust as it evaporates. Fairy dust is useful for flying. Unicorn farts are like helium, no matter what container you put it in some will leak out losing value over time... (grin)

    2. Re:Yay for faux currency! by MFriis · · Score: 1

      I don't have a stake in any cryptocurrency, probably for most of the same reasons you don't.

      But honestly, isn't what makes a currency trustable that it's backed by something of value which has something to lose should it fail? It's not gold anymore but rather the trustworthyness of the country and the corporations within. Dollars are hardly even on print anymore, most of it being digital.

      So if a cryptocurrency is backed by big corporations who actually have something to lose should it fail, how is it different from "real" money? NSA isn't going to take away something MS and Bank of America is lobbying your policiticians for.

      Bitcoin certainly doesn't have this support, but it sounds like Ethereum is, at least, starting to get there.

    3. Re:Yay for faux currency! by Chas · · Score: 1

      I find your insights interesting and wish to subscribe to your periodical...

      --


      Chas - The one, the only.
      THANK GOD!!!
  18. This news brought to you by... by DrXym · · Score: 1

    ... the people trying to hype up a new "currency" so they offload their mined coins on a bunch of gullible saps.

  19. Off course large companies will take it up by guruevi · · Score: 1

    The company behind it has proven it's willing to rollback any "illegitimate" transaction. It's like BitCoin but with a centralized bank.

    --
    Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
  20. These pump and dump articles are getting old. by kalpol · · Score: 1

    Take the risk if you like, but these are just pump and dump schemes and Slashdot should know better.

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    12:50 - press return.
  21. Re:What is pumping Etherium? by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 1

    You can use Etherium as money. So what's the difference?

  22. Online Block Training by Elric55 · · Score: 1

    Pay us $29.99 a month for Online Block Training. That's right! Pay us in USD and not even our own currency we want you to use!