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> the potentially extraordinary Ethereum project, built to "decentralize the web" with its blockchain, which recently raised $15 million (in bitcoin, of course)

by 0xA21F 12y ago

> the potentially extraordinary Ethereum project, built to "decentralize the web" with its blockchain, which recently raised $15 million (in bitcoin, of course) by pre-selling its cryptocurrency prior to next year’s launch I've still not met anybody who can tell me what Ethereum is without using the words "turing complete" (which it's not due the halting problem, just like Bitcoin). Most of the information you can get from secondary sources seems to just mirror Bitcoin (you can do this awesome thing, but you'll need an oracle to do it..).

drcode 12y ago
Your point is fair. The idea with ethereum is that oracles will be able to have a much finer granularity; whether this allows for more useful apps still remains to be proven by us in the ethereum community. (Also, there are plenty of folks like myself working on oracle-free apps, but since these are based on unproven economic models at this point, it would be negligent for us to promote them widely before we have evidence that such designs work in practice, on the live ethereum blockchain)
fryguy 12y ago
It allows for arbitrary rules. For instance, you could make some currency that has the concept of grain and wood, and then you could make a transaction that converts one of each into roads. I'm not sure why that would be useful, but it's something that could be done, that couldn't be done in bitcoin.
DennisP 12y ago
From a user's perspective: Bitcoin's client lets you pay people. Ethereum's client has a bunch of apps that let you do all sorts of financial activities: gamble, invest, loan, borrow, crowdfund, insure, etc. Anyone can write an app and put it on the network without bothering to maintain a server. "Decentralizing the web" comes from bringing in other p2p protocols for messaging and storage. Eg., if you can use cryptocurrency contracts to pay for verified storage, you can make sure files stay available without using servers. Oracles could be useful for contracts that depend on external data but aren't the only solution.

by 0xA21F 12y ago

drcode 12y ago

Your point is fair. The idea with ethereum is that oracles will be able to have a much finer granularity; whether this allows for more useful apps still remains to be proven by us in the ethereum community. (Also, there are plenty of folks like myself working on oracle-free apps, but since these are based on unproven economic models at this point, it would be negligent for us to promote them widely before we have evidence that such designs work in practice, on the live ethereum blockchain)

fryguy 12y ago

It allows for arbitrary rules. For instance, you could make some currency that has the concept of grain and wood, and then you could make a transaction that converts one of each into roads. I'm not sure why that would be useful, but it's something that could be done, that couldn't be done in bitcoin.

DennisP 12y ago

From a user's perspective: Bitcoin's client lets you pay people. Ethereum's client has a bunch of apps that let you do all sorts of financial activities: gamble, invest, loan, borrow, crowdfund, insure, etc. Anyone can write an app and put it on the network without bothering to maintain a server. "Decentralizing the web" comes from bringing in other p2p protocols for messaging and storage. Eg., if you can use cryptocurrency contracts to pay for verified storage, you can make sure files stay available without using servers. Oracles could be useful for contracts that depend on external data but aren't the only solution.