http://www.wired.com/2014/09/ethereum-backers-raise-15-million/Bitcoin are valuable because they’re both useful as a currency and in short supply. Only 21 million bitcoin will ever be created. That’s not the case with Ethers. Buterin and company plan to produce 15 million of them each year on their blockchain. There’s another important difference too. You will need to use Ethers in order to run software on the Ethereum network. Buterin calls it the platform’s programming “fuel.” The 30,000 bitcoin sale is a bet that people will actually want to do this.
