[ANN] Ethereum: Welcome to the Beginning

[allwelder]

will etherum be able to do anything that NXT can't do?

Yes, it will be able to be regulated by US government.

+1

how?

the same question.

[yidian]

will etherum be able to do anything that NXT can't do?

Yes, it will be able to be regulated by US government.

+1

how?

the same question.

The end!

[tobeaj2meraa]

When is the pre-sale going to happen?

What's the purpose of running the client right now?

Hello bitcoincal,

The presale is going to come soon(tm).

The purpose of running the client at the moment is to try your hand at developing dapps in HTML, QML and javascript, or help with its development at http://github.com/ethereum.

Cheers!

How to join the IPO, is there any guide?

[Ursium]

when will be held the IPO?

To paraphrase Joe Lubin's on our forums (https://forum.ethereum.org)

We are not conducting an IPO. We are not selling shares in anything. Ether (ETH), the product we are selling, has no voting or any other kind of rights and does not entitle anyone to dividends or any sort of future gains.

Ether is a necessary element -- a fuel -- for operating the computational platform we are building. Without the requirement of payment of ether for every computational step and storage operation of the system, we'd hit the halting problem (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halting_problem): infinite loops or excessive storage demands could bog down the system and effectively destroy it.

People can download the software platform and run it on their computers and it will do certain basic things like perhaps showing them a catalog of available apps. If they want more functionality, like running a DApp or uploading and testing DApps that they have written, they will have to feed fuel into the machine.

Under Swiss law, where Ethereum Switzerland GmbH is based, the product we are selling is classified as a software product. And we are conducting a pre-sale for this product since we are not yet able to manufacture it.

People who are interested in acquiring ether to build and distribute DApps, or to pay for their usage can do so in the pre-sale, for BTC. These sales will help us fund the continued construction of the software platform that requires ETH, tentatively due for release in Q4.

[Ursium]

will etherum be able to do anything that NXT can't do?

I can't speak for NXT (or XCP, MSC etc), and we have good relationships with everyone in the field. Personally I see our future interactions as collaboration, not competition.

I think the vision we have for ethereum is unique, even 6 months after our original announcement. The core idea is to promote the development of dapps by making it very easy for people to leverage skills they already have: JS, HTML or QML for the frontend for example. The contract part also has a low barrier of entry, by using a VM and enabling several higher level languages (Currently GO-like, python-like and lisp-like).

As I was saying in previous post, I remember, being a developer myself, being quite frustrated it wasn't easier to build the cool dapps that have been envisaged in the last 18 months. I think making the build process near-trivial will accelerate innovation in the space quite dramatically. 

[jubalix]

will etherum be able to do anything that NXT can't do?

I can't speak for NXT (or XCP, MSC etc), and we have good relationships with everyone in the field. Personally I see our future interactions as collaboration, not competition.

I think the vision we have for ethereum is unique, even 6 months after our original announcement. The core idea is to promote the development of dapps by making it very easy for people to leverage skills they already have: JS, HTML or QML for the frontend for example. The contract part also has a low barrier of entry, by using a VM and enabling several higher level languages (Currently GO-like, python-like and lisp-like).

As I was saying in previous post, I remember, being a developer myself, being quite frustrated it wasn't easier to build the cool dapps that have been envisaged in the last 18 months. I think making the build process near-trivial will accelerate innovation in the space quite dramatically. 

ok....I thnk nxt was putting a programing language interface as well...could be wrong though

[R2-D2R2]

what is the total number of Ethereum?

[MemoryShock]

what is the total number of Ethereum?

I believe that the amount sold during the pre-sale will constitute 10% of the total number of ether (the coin/fuel of ethereum).  As such, the total number is dependent on a number that is not yet known.

At least that was my understanding when I was looking into ethereum several months ago.  Not sure if anything has changed.

[solid12345]

what is the total number of Ethereum?

I believe that the amount sold during the pre-sale will constitute 10% of the total number of ether (the coin/fuel of ethereum).  As such, the total number is dependent on a number that is not yet known.

At least that was my understanding when I was looking into ethereum several months ago.  Not sure if anything has changed.

So is there a chance of it "selling out" then or will the final number reflect the amount of btc raised?

[Ursium]

Hello everyone,

The ether sale has begun! It takes place exclusively on our website at https://www.ethereum.org/
Any other location claiming to be selling ether is very likely a scam.

To simply the dissemination of information, all documentation including development plan, updated whitepaper and intended use of revenue can be found on our website at https://www.ethereum.org/

A summary by Vitalik can be found at:
https://blog.ethereum.org/2014/07/22/launching-the-ether-sale/

All updates will be done via our blog on https://blog.ethereum.org and this FAQ

We understand many of you have questions. We'll be hosting a reddit AMA tomorrow. I'll do my best to answer what i can here, but bear with me as there's only one of me and plenty of questions I'm sure

All other offers to purchase Ether should be considered a scam and reported to administrators

[BigOrangeBee]

I understand Ether is not a coin, it's a basically a token to use on the Ethereum blockchain in order to initiate any implementation.
Is that basically correct?

What methods will be available for determining Ether value (in BTC or fiat) after the Ether pre-sale is finished, and what avenues will be available to sell Ether for BTC or fiat after the pre-sale is finished. Will Ether be traded on exchanges?

[Paws1t1veEV]

Can I buy ether multiple times from the same email address?

Or do I need to make one bulk purchase?

Thanks,

[U]

ETH will run as POW after IPO?

[poornamelessme]

No cap on sales, I take it? Approx. 14 days at current price, regardless of how many sell between now and that 14 days, correct?

[freedomno1]

Hello everyone,

The ether sale has begun! It takes place exclusively on our website at https://www.ethereum.org/
Any other location claiming to be selling ether is very likely a scam.

To simply the dissemination of information, all documentation including development plan, updated whitepaper and intended use of revenue can be found on our website at https://www.ethereum.org/

A summary by Vitalik can be found at:
https://blog.ethereum.org/2014/07/22/launching-the-ether-sale/

All updates will be done via our blog on https://blog.ethereum.org and this FAQ

We understand many of you have questions. We'll be hosting a reddit AMA tomorrow. I'll do my best to answer what i can here, but bear with me as there's only one of me and plenty of questions I'm sure

All other offers to purchase Ether should be considered a scam and reported to administrators

O_O

So the sales have begun will go to check it out and nice

[tat123]

Can I buy ether multiple times from the same email address?

Or do I need to make one bulk purchase?

Thanks,

Yes you can. If you decide to break up your purchases, its similar to having multiple wallets.

[jibble]

I understand Ether is not a coin, it's a basically a token to use on the Ethereum blockchain in order to initiate any implementation.
Is that basically correct?

What methods will be available for determining Ether value (in BTC or fiat) after the Ether pre-sale is finished, and what avenues will be available to sell Ether for BTC or fiat after the pre-sale is finished. Will Ether be traded on exchanges?

It will be dependent on earnings if i am understanding it correctly.

It costs ether to run these smart contracts, with these smart contracts you can set things up, like a fully automated trustless escrow service that is completely decentralized , websites or gambling addresses, with smart contracts set to payout on demand or when told to. ( there are literally hundreds of other things that can be made with these smart contracts, they are just random examples of what could be created)

These smart contracts will end up earning the people who own them a certain amount of cash every week or month for having them running and performing their function.

the price of ether will be closely related to the earning potential of these contracts. it would likely reach a balanced level between the cost of ether and the amount of potential gains from using ether

If the smart contracts earn the owners a higher return then the price of ether should technically rise. because each ether has an "earning potential" by being used in the running of a smart contract. which is higher than the cost, increasing demand in the coin to be used to earn them money. thus rising the price.

[dwdoc]

No cap on sales, I take it? Approx. 14 days at current price, regardless of how many sell between now and that 14 days, correct?

If that's true (and I believe it is) why doesn't everyone wait until the deadline to purchase?

[dzarmush]

Devs cancelled the first IPO in order to work on details and come up with a decent IPO plan. Instead they've just started IPO with no info whatsoever. Maidsafe investors got about 20000 coins for 1 BTC, devs set a cap but still investors are pretty much fucked. Ethereum devs only offer 2000 for 1 BTC, didn't set a cap, didn't post any info about total amount of coins, mining plan, devs stake ect. Looks like another big disappointment: eMunie, Maidsafe, Ethereum.

[poornamelessme]

No cap on sales, I take it? Approx. 14 days at current price, regardless of how many sell between now and that 14 days, correct?

If that's true (and I believe it is) why doesn't everyone wait until the deadline to purchase?

Well, if you wanted to buy anyway, and had spare BTC, it wouldn't really matter either way... now or 14 days from now.

For myself, I basically want to know how long I have to scrounge up my BTC by. If no cap, we can even wait past the 14 days and take a little less Ethereum, if we are holding alts that aren't exactly at the best price to sell right now.