How Ethereum Has Made It To 2018

focuses on blockchain technology, and is an open source public software system. Not only does it provide the fundamental blockchain technology, it also acts as a cryptocurrency which can be transferred between accounts. This brief guide looks at how Ethereum has made it to 2018, looking at key dates along its timeline. 2013 It was back in 2013 that Vitalik Buterin first described the concept for Ethereum. He was previously a programmer who had worked on Bitcoin, had seen the advantages and disadvantages of the system and strove to make a similar blockchain system with improvements. Later that year, he wrote a paper describing the Ethereum concept, and subsequently proposed the development of this new platform using a general scripting language. 2014 – January Buterin announced the Ethereum concept at the North American Bitcoin Convention, which was located in Miami. He also brought in two new developers who would be instrumental during development: Dr. Gavin Wood and Jeffrey Wilcke. 2014 – April The ‘Yellow Paper’, the first formal detailed specification of the Ethereum Virtual Machine, was published, along with coding for the first prototype Ethereum platform. 2014 – July Launch of the first Ether Sale, with an initial conversion rate of 31,591 Bitcoins for 60,102,216 Ether. August saw the presale of Ether, raising more than $14 million. 2015 – July Frontier was released. Acting as the first milestone in the Ethereum project, it was initially intended for use as a beta system but proved so successful that the software was launched for public use. 2015 – November DEVCON-1 in London saw over 400 participants and 100 presentations. What made this so important for Ethereum was that major companies attended, including Microsoft, IBM and UBS. 2016 – May Ethereum saw a huge amount of media coverage and broke into the mainstream consciousness when the DAO raised over $150 million in a crowd sale. 2016 – June The first hacking of the Ethereum system. While the group only managed to hack $50, it caused many disputes within the Ethereum system about overall security. 2017 – February The Enterprise Ethereum Alliance was announced, with Microsoft and other banks and technology giants forming an alliance to advance the adoption of Ethereum’s blockchain technology. 2017 – May Two more Enterprise Ethereum Alliances were launched, incorporating many other technological giants, suggesting to the general market that the Ethereum system will eventually overtake that of Bitcoin.