Ethereum is a decentralized open-source blockchain system that features its own cryptocurrency Ether. ETH works as a platform for numerous other cryptocurrencies as well as for the execution of decentralized smart contracts.Ethereum was first described in a 2013 whitepaper by Vitalik Buterin. Buterin along with other co-founders secured funding for the project in an online public crowd sale in the summer of 2014 and officially launched the blockchain on July 30 2015.Ethereum’s own purported goal is to become a global platform for decentralized applications allowing users from all over the world to write and run software that is resistant to censorship downtime and fraud.