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Merge pull request #15593 from wxy/20190505-Blockchain-2.0---What-Is-Ethereum--Part-9
TSL:20190505 Blockchain 2.0 - What Is Ethereum -Part 9.md
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[#]: collector: (lujun9972)
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[#]: translator: (wxy)
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[#]: subject: (Blockchain 2.0 – What Is Ethereum [Part 9])
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[#]: via: (https://www.ostechnix.com/blockchain-2-0-what-is-ethereum/)
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[#]: author: (editor https://www.ostechnix.com/author/editor/)
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Blockchain 2.0 – What Is Ethereum [Part 9]
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======
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![Ethereum][1]
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In the previous guide of this series, we discussed about [**Hyperledger Project (HLP)**][2], a fastest growing product developed by **Linux Foundation**. In this guide, we are going to discuss about what is **Ethereum** and its features in detail. Many researchers opine that the future of the internet will be based on principles of decentralized computing. Decentralized computing was in fact among one of the broader objectives of having the internet in the first place. However, the internet took another turn owing to differences in computing capabilities available. While modern server capabilities make the case for server-side processing and execution, lack of decent mobile networks in large parts of the world make the case for the same on the client side. Modern smartphones now have **SoCs** (system on a chip or system on chip) capable of handling many such operations on the client side itself, however, limitations owing to retrieving and storing data securely still pushes developers to have server-side computing and data management. Hence, a bottleneck in regards to data transfer capabilities is currently observed.
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All of that might soon change because of advancements in distributed data storage and program execution platforms. [**The blockchain**][3], for the first time in the history of the internet, basically allows for secure data management and program execution on a distributed network of users as opposed to central servers.
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**Ethereum** is one such blockchain platform that gives developers access to frameworks and tools used to build and run applications on such a decentralized network. Though more popularly known in general for its cryptocurrency, Ethereum is more than just **ethers** (the cryptocurrency). It’s a full **Turing complete programming language** that is designed to develop and deploy **DApps** or **Distributed APPlications** [1]. We’ll look at DApps in more detail in one of the upcoming posts.
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Ethereum is an open-source, supports by default a public (non-permissioned) blockchain, and features an extensive smart contract platform **(Solidity)** underneath. Ethereum provides a virtual computing environment called the **Ethereum virtual machine** to run applications and [**smart contracts**][4] as well[2]. The Ethereum virtual machine runs on thousands of participating nodes all over the world, meaning the application data while being secure, is almost impossible to be tampered with or lost.
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### Getting behind Ethereum: What sets it apart
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In 2017, a 30 plus group of the who’s who of the tech and financial world got together to leverage the Ethereum blockchain’s capabilities. Thus, the **Ethereum Enterprise Alliance (EEA)** was formed by a long list of supporting members including _Microsoft_ , _JP Morgan_ , _Cisco Systems_ , _Deloitte_ , and _Accenture_. JP Morgan already has **Quorum** , a decentralized computing platform for financial services based on Ethereum currently in operation, while Microsoft has Ethereum based cloud services it markets through its Azure cloud business[3].
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### What is ether and how is it related to Ethereum
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Ethereum creator **Vitalik Buterin** understood the true value of a decentralized processing platform and the underlying blockchain tech that powered bitcoin. He failed to gain majority agreement for his idea of proposing that Bitcoin should be developed to support running distributed applications (DApps) and programs (now referred to as smart contracts).
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Hence in 2013, he proposed the idea of Ethereum in a white paper he published. The original white paper is still maintained and available for readers **[here][5]**. The idea was to develop a blockchain based platform to run smart contracts and applications designed to run on nodes and user devices instead of servers.
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The Ethereum system is often mistaken to just mean the cryptocurrency ether, however, it has to be reiterated that Ethereum is a full stack platform for developing applications and executing them as well and has been so since inception whereas bitcoin isn’t. **Ether is currently the second biggest cryptocurrency** by market capitalization and trades at an average of $170 per ether at the time of writing this article[4].
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### Features and technicalities of the platform[5]
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* As we’ve already mentioned, the cryptocurrency called ether is simply one of the things the platform features. The purpose of the system is more than taking care of financial transactions. In fact, the key difference between the Ethereum platform and Bitcoin is in their scripting capabilities. Ethereum is developed in a Turing complete programming language which means it has scripting and application capabilities similar to other major programming languages. Developers require this feature to create DApps and complex smart contracts on the platform, a feature that bitcoin misses on.
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* The “mining” process of ether is more stringent and complex. While specialized ASICs may be used to mine bitcoin, the basic hashing algorithm used by Ethereum **(EThash)** reduces the advantage that ASICs have in this regard.
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* The transaction fees itself to be paid as an incentive to miners and node operators for running the network is calculated using a computational token called **Gas**. Gas improves the system’s resilience and resistance to external hacks and attacks by requiring the initiator of the transaction to pay ethers proportionate to the number of computational resources that are required to carry out that transaction. This is in contrast to other platforms such as Bitcoin where the transaction fee is measured in tandem with the transaction size. As such, the average transaction costs in Ethereum is radically less than Bitcoin. This also implies that running applications running on the Ethereum virtual machine will require a fee depending straight up on the computational problems that the application is meant to solve. Basically, the more complex an execution, the more the fee.
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* The block time for Ethereum is estimated to be around _**10-15 seconds**_. The block time is the average time that is required to timestamp and create a block on the blockchain network. Compared to the 10+ minutes the same transaction will take on the bitcoin network, it becomes apparent that _**Ethereum is much faster**_ with respect to transactions and verification of blocks.
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* _It is also interesting to note that there is no hard cap on the amount of ether that can be mined or the rate at which ether can be mined leading to less radical system design than bitcoin._
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### Conclusion
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While Ethereum is comparable and far outpaces similar platforms, the platform itself lacked a definite path for development until the Ethereum enterprise alliance started pushing it. While the definite push for enterprise developments are made by the Ethereum platform, it has to be noted that Ethereum also caters to small-time developers and individuals as well. As such developing the platform for end users and enterprises leave a lot of specific functionality out of the loop for Ethereum. Also, the blockchain model proposed and developed by the Ethereum foundation is a public model whereas the one proposed by projects such as the Hyperledger project is private and permissioned.
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While only time can tell which platform among the ones put forward by Ethereum, Hyperledger, and R3 Corda among others will find the most fans in real-world use cases, such systems do prove the validity behind the claim of a blockchain powered future.
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**References:**
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* [1] [**Gabriel Nicholas, “Ethereum Is Coding’s New Wild West | WIRED,” Wired , 2017**][6].
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* [2] [**What is Ethereum? — Ethereum Homestead 0.1 documentation**][7].
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* [3] [**Ethereum, a Virtual Currency, Enables Transactions That Rival Bitcoin’s – The New York Times**][8].
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* [4] [**Cryptocurrency Market Capitalizations | CoinMarketCap**][9].
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* [5] [**Introduction — Ethereum Homestead 0.1 documentation**][10].
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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via: https://www.ostechnix.com/blockchain-2-0-what-is-ethereum/
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作者：[editor][a]
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选题：[lujun9972][b]
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译者：[译者ID](https://github.com/译者ID)
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校对：[校对者ID](https://github.com/校对者ID)
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本文由 [LCTT](https://github.com/LCTT/TranslateProject) 原创编译，[Linux中国](https://linux.cn/) 荣誉推出
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[a]: https://www.ostechnix.com/author/editor/
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[b]: https://github.com/lujun9972
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[1]: https://www.ostechnix.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Ethereum-720x340.png
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[2]: https://www.ostechnix.com/blockchain-2-0-an-introduction-to-hyperledger-project-hlp/
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[3]: https://www.ostechnix.com/blockchain-2-0-an-introduction/
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[4]: https://www.ostechnix.com/blockchain-2-0-explaining-smart-contracts-and-its-types/
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[5]: https://github.com/ethereum/wiki/wiki/White-Paper
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[6]: https://www.wired.com/story/ethereum-is-codings-new-wild-west/
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[7]: http://www.ethdocs.org/en/latest/introduction/what-is-ethereum.html#ethereum-virtual-machine
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[8]: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/28/business/dealbook/ethereum-a-virtual-currency-enables-transactions-that-rival-bitcoins.html
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[9]: https://coinmarketcap.com/
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[10]: http://www.ethdocs.org/en/latest/introduction/index.html
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[#]: collector: (lujun9972)
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[#]: translator: (wxy)
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[#]: reviewer: ( )
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[#]: subject: (Blockchain 2.0 – What Is Ethereum [Part 9])
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[#]: via: (https://www.ostechnix.com/blockchain-2-0-what-is-ethereum/)
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[#]: author: (editor https://www.ostechnix.com/author/editor/)
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区块链 2.0 ：以太坊（九）
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======
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![Ethereum][1]
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在本系列的上一指南中，我们讨论了 [Hyperledger 项目（HLP）][2]，这是一个由 Linux 基金会开发的增长最快的产品。在本指南中，我们将详细讨论什么是“<ruby>以太坊<rt>Ethereum</rt></ruby>”及其功能。许多研究人员认为，互联网的未来将基于<ruby>去中心化计算<rt>decentralized computing</rt></ruby>的原理。实际上，去中心化计算是互联网放在首位的更广泛目标之一。但是，由于可用的计算能力不同，互联网发生了另一次变化。尽管现代服务器功能使服务器端处理和执行成为可能，但在世界上大部分地区缺乏像样的移动网络使客户端也是如此。现在，现代智能手机具有 SoC（片上系统），在客户端本身上也能够处理许多此类操作，但是，由于安全地检索和存储数据而受到的限制仍然迫使开发人员进行服务器端计算和数据管理。因此，当前可以观察到数据传输能力的瓶颈。
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由于分布式数据存储和程序执行平台的进步，所有这些可能很快就会改变。[区块链][3]允许在分布式用户网络（而不是中央服务器）上进行安全的数据管理和程序执行，这在互联网历史上基本上是第一次。
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以太坊就是一个这样的区块链平台，使开发人员可以访问用于在这样的去中心化网络上构建和运行应用程序的框架和工具。尽管它以其加密货币而广为人知，以太坊不只是<ruby>以太币<rt>ether</rt></ruby>（加密货币）。这是一种完整的<ruby>图灵完备<rt>Turing complete</rt></ruby>编程语言，旨在开发和部署 DApp（即<ruby>分布式应用<rt>Distributed APPlication</rt></ruby>） [^1]。我们会在接下来的一篇文章中详细介绍 DApp。
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以太坊是开源的，默认情况下是一个公共（非许可）区块链，并具有一个大范围的智能合约平台底层（Solidity）。以太坊提供了一个称为“以太坊虚拟机（EVM）”的虚拟计算环境，以运行应用程序和[智能合约][4] [^2]。 以太坊虚拟机在世界各地成千上万个参与节点上运行，这意味着应用程序数据在保证安全的同时，几乎不可能被篡改或丢失。
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### 以太坊的背后：什么使之不同
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在 2017 年，为了推广以太坊区块链的功能的利用，30 多个技术和金融领域的名人聚集在一起。因此，“<ruby>以太坊企业联盟<rt>Ethereum Enterprise Alliance</rt></ruby>”（EEA）由众多支持成员组成，包括微软、摩根大通、思科、德勤和埃森哲。摩根大通已经拥有 Quorum，这是一个基于以太坊的去中心化金融服务计算平台，目前正在运营中；而微软拥有通过其 Azure 云业务销售的基于以太坊的云服务[^3]。
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### 什么是以太币，它和以太坊有什么关系
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以太坊的创建者<ruby>维塔利克·布特林<rt>Vitalik Buterin</rt></ruby>深谙去中心化处理平台的真正价值以及为比特币提供动力的底层区块链技术。他提议比特币应该开发以支持运行分布式应用程序（DApp）和程序（现在称为智能合约）的想法，未能获得多数同意。
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因此，他在 2013 年发表的白皮书中提出了以太坊的想法。原始白皮书仍在维护中，读者可从[此处][5]获得。这个想法是开发一个基于区块链的平台来运行智能合约和应用程序，这些合约和应用程序设计为在节点和用户设备而非服务器上运行。
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以太坊系统经常被误认为就是加密货币以太币，但是，必须重申，以太坊是一个用于开发和执行应用程序的全栈平台，自成立以来一直如此，而比特币并非如此。**以太网目前是按市值计算的第二大加密货币**，在撰写本文时，其平均交易价格为每个以太币 170 美元 [^4]。
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### 该平台的功能和技术特性 [^5]
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* 正如我们已经提到的，称为以太币的加密货币只是该平台功能之一。该系统的目的不仅仅是处理金融交易。 实际上，以太坊平台和比特币之间的主要区别在于它们的脚本功能。以太坊是以图灵完备的编程语言开发的，这意味着它具有类似于其他主要编程语言的脚本和应用程序功能。开发人员需要此功能才能在平台上创建 DApp 和复杂的智能合约，而该功能是比特币缺失的。
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* 以太币的“挖矿”过程更加严格和复杂。尽管可以使用专用的 ASIC 来开采比特币，但以太坊使用的基本哈希算法（EThash）降低了 ASIC 在这方面的优势。
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* 为激励矿工和节点运营者运行网络而支付的交易费用本身是使用称为 “<ruby>燃料<rt>Gas</rt></ruby>”的计算令牌来计算的。通过要求交易的发起者支付与执行交易所需的计算资源数量成比例的以太币，燃料提高了系统的弹性以及对外部黑客和攻击的抵抗力。这与其他平台（例如比特币）相反，在该平台上，交易费用与交易规模一并衡量。因此，以太坊的平均交易成本从根本上低于比特币。这也意味着在以太坊虚拟机上运行的应用程序需要付费，具体取决于应用程序要解决的计算问题。基本上，执行越复杂，费用就越高。
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* 以太坊的出块时间估计约为 10 - 15 秒。出块时间是在区块链网络上打时间戳和创建区块所需的平均时间。与将在比特币网络上进行同样的交易要花费 10 分钟以上的时间相比，很明显，就交易和区块验证而言，以太坊要快得多。
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* *有趣的是，对可开采的以太币数量或开采速度没有硬性限制，这导致其系统设计不像比特币那么激进*。
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### 总结
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尽管与以太坊相比，它远远超过了类似的平台，但在以太坊企业联盟开始推动之前，该平台本身尚缺乏明确的发展道路。虽然以太坊平台确实推动了企业发展，但必须注意，以太坊还可以满足小型开发商和个人的需求。 这样一来，为最终用户和企业开发的平台就为以太坊遗漏了许多特定功能。另外，以太坊基金会提出和开发的区块链模型是一种公共模型，而 Hyperledger 项目等项目提出的模型是私有的和需要许可的。
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虽然只有时间才能证明以太坊、Hyperledger 和 R3 Corda 等平台中，哪一个平台会在现实场景中找到最多粉丝，但此类系统确实证明了以区块链为动力的未来主张的正确性。
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[^1]: [Gabriel Nicholas, “Ethereum Is Coding’s New Wild West | WIRED,” Wired , 2017][6].
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[^2]: [What is Ethereum? — Ethereum Homestead 0.1 documentation][7].
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[^3]: [Ethereum, a Virtual Currency, Enables Transactions That Rival Bitcoin’s – The New York Times][8].
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[^4]: [Cryptocurrency Market Capitalizations | CoinMarketCap][9].
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[^5]: [Introduction — Ethereum Homestead 0.1 documentation][10].
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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via: https://www.ostechnix.com/blockchain-2-0-what-is-ethereum/
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作者：[editor][a]
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选题：[lujun9972][b]
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译者：[wxy](https://github.com/wxy)
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校对：[校对者ID](https://github.com/校对者ID)
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本文由 [LCTT](https://github.com/LCTT/TranslateProject) 原创编译，[Linux中国](https://linux.cn/) 荣誉推出
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[a]: https://www.ostechnix.com/author/editor/
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[b]: https://github.com/lujun9972
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[1]: https://www.ostechnix.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Ethereum-720x340.png
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[2]: https://www.ostechnix.com/blockchain-2-0-an-introduction-to-hyperledger-project-hlp/
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[3]: https://www.ostechnix.com/blockchain-2-0-an-introduction/
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[4]: https://www.ostechnix.com/blockchain-2-0-explaining-smart-contracts-and-its-types/
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[5]: https://github.com/ethereum/wiki/wiki/White-Paper
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[6]: https://www.wired.com/story/ethereum-is-codings-new-wild-west/
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[7]: http://www.ethdocs.org/en/latest/introduction/what-is-ethereum.html#ethereum-virtual-machine
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[8]: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/28/business/dealbook/ethereum-a-virtual-currency-enables-transactions-that-rival-bitcoins.html
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[9]: https://coinmarketcap.com/
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[10]: http://www.ethdocs.org/en/latest/introduction/index.html
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