What Is Ethereum?

Ether is the native cryptocurrency of Ethereum. Released in 2015, Ethereum is designed to be a general purpose blockchain platform. That’s in contrast to Bitcoin, which excels in its single use case as a digital currency, but isn’t as extensible. 

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sumit
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Senior ETF Analyst
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Reviewed by: Sumit Roy
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Edited by: Sumit Roy

ETF.com Insight and Analysis
Ether is the native cryptocurrency of Ethereum. Released in 2015, Ethereum is designed to be a general purpose blockchain platform. That’s in contrast to Bitcoin, which excels in its single use case as a digital currency, but isn’t as extensible. 

Vitalik Buterin, the creator of Ethereum, has likened Bitcoin to a pocket calculator and Ethereum to a smartphone.

In other words, a pocket calculator does its job well, but a smartphone can contain a variety of applications—one of which could be a calculator app. It’s this open-endedness that has put Ethereum squarely at the center of much of the innovation currently taking place in the crypto space. From decentralized finance (DeFi) to nonfungible tokens (NFTs) to decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs)—a lot of the excitement in crypto is happening on Ethereum

Sumit Roy is the senior ETF analyst for etf.com, where he has worked for 13 years. He creates a variety of content for the platform, including news articles, analysis pieces, videos and podcasts.

Before joining etf.com, Sumit was the managing editor and commodities analyst for Hard Assets Investor. In those roles, he was responsible for most of the operations of HAI, a website dedicated to education about commodities investing.

Though he still closely follows the commodities beat, Sumit covers a much broader assortment of topics for etf.com, with a particular focus on stock and bond exchange-traded funds.

He is the host of etf.com’s Talk ETFs, a popular video series that features weekly interviews with thought leaders in the ETF industry. Sumit is also co-host of Exchange Traded Fridays, etf.com’s weekly podcast series.

He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he enjoys climbing the city’s steep hills, playing chess and snowboarding in Lake Tahoe.

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