Ethereum Part 2
Explicit content warning
06/03/22 • 71 min
We only scratched the surface of what Ethereum is all about in the last episode, so it’s time to dive deeper. Last week was mostly about the early history of Ethereum and the colourful characters who came together to create it. Before we pick up that thread though, it’s worth taking a look at what Ethereum makes possible.
It’s no exaggeration to say that the cryptocurrency space has been transformed almost beyond recognition thanks to Ethereum. From tokens to NFTs to decentralised finance and more, Ethereum opened up a world of possibilities and established itself as one of the structural pillars of cryptocurrency.
So in this episode, we’ll explore a few of the things Ethereum has pioneered, and how they have grown into fully-fledged sub-sectors of the wider cryptocurrency industry. Then, we’ll carry on looking at the history of the Ethereum project and delve into one of its most challenging episodes. As ever, there’s a lot to discover.
As with the last episode, the two books on Ethereum by Camila Russo and Laura Shin are bith excellent reads and well worth checking out:
The Infinite Machine (2020) by Camila Russo
The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze (2022) by Laura Shin
*Side note: when we talk about gas fees, Guy mentions that they can run into the hundreds of dollars. This is an understatement. Gas fees can run into the thousands and reach some truly eye-watering sums. It’s just that Guy himself is far too penny-pinching to even countenance paying such a price.
We hope you enjoy the show.
Producer for iHeart Media: Noel Brown
Editor: Sam Moult
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
We only scratched the surface of what Ethereum is all about in the last episode, so it’s time to dive deeper. Last week was mostly about the early history of Ethereum and the colourful characters who came together to create it. Before we pick up that thread though, it’s worth taking a look at what Ethereum makes possible.
It’s no exaggeration to say that the cryptocurrency space has been transformed almost beyond recognition thanks to Ethereum. From tokens to NFTs to decentralised finance and more, Ethereum opened up a world of possibilities and established itself as one of the structural pillars of cryptocurrency.
So in this episode, we’ll explore a few of the things Ethereum has pioneered, and how they have grown into fully-fledged sub-sectors of the wider cryptocurrency industry. Then, we’ll carry on looking at the history of the Ethereum project and delve into one of its most challenging episodes. As ever, there’s a lot to discover.
As with the last episode, the two books on Ethereum by Camila Russo and Laura Shin are bith excellent reads and well worth checking out:
The Infinite Machine (2020) by Camila Russo
The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze (2022) by Laura Shin
*Side note: when we talk about gas fees, Guy mentions that they can run into the hundreds of dollars. This is an understatement. Gas fees can run into the thousands and reach some truly eye-watering sums. It’s just that Guy himself is far too penny-pinching to even countenance paying such a price.
We hope you enjoy the show.
Producer for iHeart Media: Noel Brown
Editor: Sam Moult
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Previous Episode
Ethereum Part 1
It’s time to delve back into crypto’s history and start looking at the project that is second only to Bitcoin in terms of scale and recognition.
Ethereum may not have been the first altcoin to emerge in Bitcoin’s wake, but its influence on the crypto industry has been seismic. Since it first appeared on the scene back in 2015, Ethereum has been the driving force behind much of crypto’s evolution, triggering a wave of innovation and growth.
In this episode, we take a look at Ethereum’s early days and how it began to grow from an idea in the mind of a teenage genius into a project that would change crypto forever. We delve into the early life of Vitalik Buterin and meet some of the other characters who gravitated toward him and his idea.
We’ll also get a glimpse of the project’s early development, when Vitalik and the other co-founders gathered together for months on end at a house in Switzerland. We’ll talk about some of the interpersonal dramas and personality clashes that took place as a bunch of very smart people tried to bring the idea of Ethereum to life.
Many of the people we meet in this episode have gone on to become some of the most famous figures in cryptocurrency. Some of them are now involved with projects that are in direct competition with Ethereum: make of that what you will...
The two books on Ethereum we talk about are both excellent reads and essential for anyone interested in learning more about the project and cryptocurrency in general. They are:
The Infinite Machine (2020) by Camila Russo
The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze (2022) by Laura Shin
We hope you enjoy the show.
Producer for iHeart Media: Noel Brown
Editor: Sam Moult
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Next Episode
Ethereum: Part 3
We ended on a cliffhanger last week, with the infamous DAO hack having hit Ethereum and its community hard. So, how did they deal with it and what did it all mean for Ethereum?
With millions of dollars worth of ETH having been stolen by a hacker who had spotted a flaw in the DAO’s smart contract, Ethereum’s developers and community were faced with some tough decisions. Do nothing, or take action? And if so, what sort of action to take? And what would the implications of their possible actions be? Could Ethereum survive this? We’ll see how the whole saga proved to be one of the most dangerous - and important - episodes in Ethereum’s history.
As we saw with Bitcoin, a successful cryptocurrency project arguably needs to endure more than a little hardship in order to prove itself. The DAO hack - and subsequent attacks on the network - proved to be the trials by fire that Ethereum needed to undergo in order to show that it was robust enough to survive.
Happily, Ethereum managed to do just that and, once it had, better and more prosperous days lay ahead. In 2017 the ICO boom began and Ethereum found itself at the centre of a frenzy of investment and excitement as crypto began to go crazy. The potential that Ethereum had long promised was finally unleashed.
For more information and especially more detailed descriptions of what went down during the DAO episode, check out those two excellent books on Ethereum we mention in the episode:
The Infinite Machine (2020) by Camila Russo
The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze (2022) by Laura Shin
*NB - this episode contains strong language. Blame Mike for that.*
We hope you enjoy the show.
Producer for iHeart Media: Noel Brown
Editor: Sam Moult
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The Coin Bureau Podcast: Crypto Without the Hype - Ethereum Part 2
Transcript
The coin Bureau podcast is a production of I Heart Radio. So what these non fungible tokens basically are is their tokens that record ownership on a blockchain of the asset that they represent. Welcome everyone to the coin Bureau Podcast. His name Mad, Mike Merchant, and my name Guy. Welcome. This is the second part of our Ethereum podcast. And last time we saw we took We took it up to Ethereum's emergence into the world years after Vitalic Puter
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