As you may know, bitcoin is an innovation that I find extremely intriguing. The cryptocurrency seems a natural monetary evolution after metal, paper, and plastic have had their years, with a model of decentralization becoming more appealing every day.
But bitcoin is far from the only alternative currency out there, though it may be the most popular. One that is particularly interesting is ether, a cryptocurrency tied to computing power developed by and for the Switzerland-based company Etherium (The Ethereum Project). Sources like Fast Company think it could be used to power the Internet of Things.
Here’s a quick description from Etherium’s website to explain what ether is:
“Ether is a necessary element—a fuel—for operating the distributed application platform Ethereum. It is a form of payment made by the clients of the platform to the machines executing the requested operations. To put it another way, ether is the incentive ensuring that developers write quality applications (wasteful code costs more), and that the network remains healthy (people are compensated for their contributed resources).”
Similar to Bitcoin, ether is exchanged on a decentralized platform, in this case Ethereum. There, connected devices barter with computing power through blockchains. This could have far-reaching implications for the Internet of Things.
As Fast Company puts it, “Ether would blanket all of a connected home’s devices in a network of code to minimize computing costs, reduce the scale of operation, maximize device longevity, and guarantee consumer privacy for all stakeholders in a connected future. In short, Ether could be the Internet of Things’s wonder drug.”
Anyone can join Etherium, but it’s especially useful for coders and developers. Those that join can add their computer’s power to the network, using ether as payment to the machines running their applications. The applications built on Etherium then run on the collective power of all the computers and devices joined together.
The decentralized Etherium is kind of like a very big and very slow computer, so it wouldn’t be great for gaming or streaming. On the other hand, it has no downtime, keeps accurate records, and is private for users. It’s perfect for simple, repetitive tasks that need to run constantly, without needing a third party or steep prices to do so.
IBM and Samsung have joined forces with Ethereum to create ADEPT, a peer-to-peer system that could serve as the bridge between many devices at a low cost.
Ethereum may have a bright future – its relationship to Bitcoin has been analogized as the World Wide Web to Bitcoin’s FTP. It may take some time for IoT and decentralized networks to become necessary and normalized, but we’re already on our way.