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In this article, we’ll explore Ethereum’s significance and impact in the crypto ecosystem as well as its role in shaping the Web3 landscape. We’ll learn about Ethereum’s ethos and goals and also examine the different types of applications developed on Ethereum. Lastly, we’ll take a look at the evolution of the web with an emphasis on comparing Web2 and Web3 development.

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Objectives

By the end of this lesson you should be able to:
  • Describe the origin and goals of the Ethereum blockchain
  • List common types of applications that can be developed with the Ethereum blockchain
  • Compare and contrast Web2 vs. Web3 development
  • Compare and contrast the concept of “ownership” in Web2 vs. Web3

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The Ethos and Goals of Ethereum

Ethereum was originally proposed in 2013 by Vitalik Buterin, who was then a young developer in the Bitcoin community. Vitalik had a vision that the potential of blockchain technology extended far beyond a decentralized digital currency. When his ideas were rejected by the Bitcoin community, he set out to create a platform that could bring his vision to life. The ethos of Ethereum is fundamentally different from Bitcoin’s. Bitcoin development is conservative; it’s focused on maintaining the existing protocol, making only incremental improvements over time rather than implementing radical changes. In other words, changes are slow and deliberate and any unnecessary risk-taking is generally frowned upon. Ethereum development, on the other hand, is focused on innovation and experimentation. There is more of a willingness to take risks and make radical changes to the protocol in order to improve on and expand upon functionality and enable new use cases. Ethereum’s primary goal is to be a general, all-purpose blockchain that allows developers to create any type of decentralized application that their minds can conjure up. One of the most important features that unlock all of these possibilities is smart contracts. Without smart contract functionality, most applications built on the platform today would be nonexistent.