Questions tagged [ethereum]

Questions about Ethereum are off topic. A blockchain-based "smart contract" system with a Turing-complete contract programming language. Questions about Ethereum should be asked on the dedicated Ethereum site: https://ethereum.stackexchange.com.

Ethereum is a "Bitcoin 2.0 / Web 3.0" distributed computing system.

Like Bitcoin, Ethereum uses a blockchain to store data and a virtual machine running a stack-based scripting language to act on transactions. Ethereum takes this further than Bitcoin by having a Turing-complete scripting language, with computing time allocated using a pay-per-instruction scheme.

Contracts on the blockchain are accessed using an HTML/JavaScript interface, this combination is known as a "Dapp", a Distributed Application. Dapps can query contract state locally and send transactions to the network. The results of contract code running in response to those transactions will be incorporated into the blockchain by a consensus network of Bitcoin-style miners.

The entire Ethereum network has the processing power of a 1999-era mobile phone, and given the costs of computing and storage on the network it should not be used for computationally or storage heavy tasks. Rather it should be used to publish and validate important state information.

For more information see - https://ethereum.org/

191 questions
37
votes
2 answers

What is Gas Limit in Ethereum?

What is the function of Gas Limit parameter in Ethereum? Is it involved in mining or something else?
20
votes
2 answers

What advantages and disadvantages does Ethereum have over Bitcoin?

What advantages and disadvantages does Ethereum have over Bitcoin? What can you do with Ethereum that you simply cannot with Bitcoin? What price do you pay for these additional functionalities?
Murch
  • 71,155
  • 33
  • 180
  • 600
19
votes
2 answers

UTXO model vs. account/balance model

I understand that Bitcoin uses unspent tx output and Ethereum account balance based. However, recently there are lots of discussions on that Bitcoin's UTXO database has become too big. Does this mean account balance based transactions are better in…
Yangrui
  • 627
  • 1
  • 5
  • 12
13
votes
2 answers

Why did the lightning network implement a gossip protocol?

As pointed out by many lightning developers in the past (e.g. Rusty's 1 million channel challenge) the gossip protocol is quite noisy and a part of the BOLTs causing many engineering challenges. Today, I learned that Ethereum's Raiden network does…
12
votes
1 answer

How does Ethereum achieve consensus?

It appears that Ethereum will start out with PoW and switch to PoS later. If I remember correctly, the block interval is planned to be fairly short in Ethereum. How does Ethereum manage to achieve consensus?
Murch
  • 71,155
  • 33
  • 180
  • 600
9
votes
2 answers

What are the differences (and value adds) among all the different Crypto Currencies?

This website lists hundreds of crypto currencies. Some whimsical, others with a unique value. Is there a catalog, or diff between all the implementations that highlights innovation, or a unique use case? My goal is to prioritize which…
makerofthings7
  • 12,656
  • 11
  • 60
  • 129
9
votes
2 answers

How does Ethereum domain registration works?

I am wondering how does the Ethereum domain registration works? From what I can see in the whitepaper, I know there is account-specific data storage, but I don't know if that would be the ideal way to register domains. Generally, one would need some…
ThePiachu
  • 42,931
  • 25
  • 138
  • 347
8
votes
1 answer

Is there a pro vs con chart comparing Bitcoin's Rootstock vs Ethereum Smart Contract system?

Is there a comparison chart where one compares Rootstock to Ethereum? What are the pros/cons of each system?
Patoshi パトシ
  • 10,956
  • 18
  • 80
  • 151
8
votes
2 answers

In Ethereum, what is an uncle block?

In Ethereum, what is an uncle? Why does Ethereum take this approach, instead of having a single chain of blocks back to the genesis block? If you mine a block, and it only gets included as an uncle, how much of the original reward do you get? How…
Nick ODell
  • 29,184
  • 11
  • 69
  • 129
8
votes
4 answers

Check password for ethereum wallet

I have an Ethereum wallet and wish to check if some password was used to create it. How this could be done?
max taldykin
  • 397
  • 3
  • 13
7
votes
6 answers

Why is sharding not possible with a distributed blockchain?

Hi guys I've been reading a lot about the problem of scalability in crytocurrencies and how to run a full bitcoin node is not a possibility on a mobile device for example, as a result we become relient on centralised 'power nodes', My question is:…
Awalias
  • 191
  • 3
7
votes
3 answers

Is there a way to access Ethereum Smart Contract's variables by name in JavaScript?

Say I have a simple smart contract: contract Simple { string32 message; function Simple() { message = "Hello world!"; } } How can I easily access the message variable by name in JavaScript? It looks like there is some way to…
ThePiachu
  • 42,931
  • 25
  • 138
  • 347
7
votes
2 answers

Is it correct to say that Bitcoin has a virtual machine in the same way as Ethereum does?

I always thought that between Bitcoin and Ethereum only the latter had a virtual machine. The answer to this thread opened my eyes to the fact that Bitcoin actual has a virtual machine. However, I wonder if there's a distinction between the two in…
StatsScared
  • 357
  • 1
  • 8
6
votes
2 answers

Does Bitcoin Blockchain solves Byzantine General Problem?

If bitcoin blockchain solves byzantine general problem, can you give an example of how it solves it? Thanks
Minisha
  • 173
  • 4
6
votes
1 answer

In what sense does the security model of proof-of-stake require users to "log on to the internet every few months"

This is primarily a question about something I heard Vitalik Buterin say in an interview the other day. (Unchained podcast's January 9, 2018 episode, at 34 minutes, 15 seconds) I quote: As far as the cons [of proof-of-stake], I would say the main…
1
2 3
12 13