Ethereum was [[Ethereum Whitepaper _ ethereum.org.pdf|first conceived]] by founder [[@Vitalik Buterin|Vitalik Buterin]], a widely known blockchain pioneer and outspoken community member. From an infrastructure perspective, what differentiates Ethereum from [[Bitcoin]] is the ability to deploy applications known as Decentralized Applications (dApps) via virtual machination. When projects are launched on Ethereum, new digital assets can also be created, and this has unlocked serious interest from the developer community. Since its inception, over 500,000 digital assets - otherwise known as tokens or [[Ethereum Proposals#ERC-20|ERC-20s]] - have been born into the Ethereum ecosystem. Because of this, the Ethereum blockchain has been described as a _decentralized world computer_. These processing capabilities are partially enabled via [[15. Smart Contracts|smart contracts]]; simply put, these are scripted programs which can be triggered by transactions, deployed on the chain, and executed autonomously. >While the Bitcoin blockchain has not historically been used for tokenization or smart contracts, the implementation of BRC-20s and sidechain/scaling developments may soon unlock programmability for the Bitcoin ecosystem. In contrast, programmability has always been at the core of the Ethereum road map, so all nodes in the Ethereum network are running an Ethereum Virtual Machine which utilizes: - internal storage - accounts (and account abstraction) - Solidity - a Turing-complete scripting language ### The Future of Ethereum Like [[Bitcoin]], Ethereum is a [[Bitcoin Anatomy#Blockchain|blockchain]] - or a distributed ledger technology - currently maintaining properties of [[Consensus Mechanism|consensus]], [[Finality|finality]], and [[Immutability|immutability]]. The Ethereum ecosystem has undergone a major system overhaul in a shift to a [[Proof of Stake]] consensus mechanism. Development and testing of the Ethereum base layer is ongoing and in conjunction with rapid development of layer 2 solutions. Concerns around chain auditability and [[Censorship resistance|censorship resistance]] have been raised since the Merge (switch to PoS), which Buterin acknowledges in an article [Make Ethereum Cypherpunk Again](https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2023/12/28/cypherpunk.html). *Please check back later for more detail on the consensus layer, scaling solutions, and security models as they solidify.