Blockchain on the Ethereum platform

Sixth technological structure

According to analysts who study the technological cycles of human development, our world is now experiencing a period of the 6th technological structure. If the previous 5th technological structure concerned mainly the development of industry: nuclear, space, instrument making, etc., then the current period is more about digital technologies, innovations in biotechnologies, the development of the Internet, etc.

And it is naturally that blockchain technology emerged during this period. A large number of companies, including giant IT companies, are developing this technology, seeing serious prospects in it. And this is no coincidence, since blockchain technology is now a huge industry that offers not only options for serious development in the digital segment, but also opportunities for making money.

However, despite its innovative nature, blockchain technology is just another stage in the evolution of computer technology, which means that even those users who do not have much knowledge and resources to apply it for their business can take advantage of its capabilities.

The widely developing sector of blockchain application development services are greatly facilitate the efforts of supporters of blockchain technology in its practical application.

Blockchain as evolution

If you look at blockchain technology from the point of view of its development, you can see that three main factors contributed to its emergence. The first factor is the emergence of the Internet, which, in essence, was and remains decentralized.

The second factor is the development of peer-2-peer networks, which demonstrate the ability of computers to simultaneously perform a large number of tasks and not depend on any one mega computer. The third factor is the presence of cryptography and encryption as data protection methods, which made the blockchain and its products anonymous and secure.

Today, blockchain technology offers two areas of application for its networks: private and public. Private blockchain networks are those that are developed by companies for internal, private use, solving closed issues of their business. Public blockchain networks, which are also rapidly developing, provide an equal opportunity for a huge number of people around the world to use the blockchain.

The question often arises: why was cryptocurrency created on the blockchain? The answer to this question is obvious – it was the blockchain that was ideal for realizing the idea of ​​creating an unified global decentralized currency that could be under the control of each of its users. However, blockchain has found its application not only in cryptocurrency.

This technology has attracted the interest of many participants in business projects, as well as those users who would like to improve, simplify and automate their processes. Today, interest and demand for the development of various applications based on blockchain technology has grown significantly.

Wallets and smart contracts

It is no secret that the main blockchain platform on which web 3.0 applications are developed is Ethereum. Its main difference from the founder of blockchain technology – Bitcoin is that Ethereum has the ability to run so-called smart contracts in the Ethereum virtual machine (EVM). Using a metaphor, Ethereum can be described as a large virtual computer in which you can run the necessary programs.

It is these programs that are called smart contracts, used for certain business logic, and thanks to this, Ethereum is experiencing its active growth and development today. Speaking about Ethereum, it should be clarified that this name is given to the blockchain platform itself, while the internal native currency of Ethereum is called Ether.

The first step of working with Ethereum begins with creating an account on the blockchain or, in other words, creating a wallet. With an account, a user can interact with the blockchain and manage their transactions. There are quite a large number of wallets, each of them has both its pros and cons. The most popular wallet among users is the Metamask wallet.

Users can easily install this wallet in their browser by going through certain steps offered by the corresponding online store. In order to be able to work with the wallet in the future, each user needs to set their own password and save it.

However, one user password is not enough to operate, so simultaneously with the generation of the Metamask wallet, a secret phrase is created that must be saved by the user. Losing the secret phrase means losing access to the wallet without restoring it.

Having created his account, any user in the corresponding network has the opportunity to write smart contracts, smart contracts, in turn, generate byte code that runs in EVM. The most popular language for writing smart contracts in Ethereum is the Solidity language.

In simple terms, a smart contract is a regular program that runs on the blockchain and allows you to access the network, call certain of its functions, manage transactions, set certain permissions and restrictions, etc. In other words, smart contracts, like Ethereum applications, unlike Bitcoin applications, do not just ensure the movement of network currency, but carry a certain logic.

Thanks to the program code, the user can call any function that is written in the smart contract and processed by EVM.