The Ethereum project started in August 2014 as a decentralized platform that runs smart contracts: applications that run exactly as programmed without any possibility of downtime, fraud or third-party interference. In the Ethereum blockchain miners mine Ether, a type of crypto token that fuels the network. Beyond a tradeable cryptocurrency, Ether is also used by application developers to pay for transaction fees and services on the network.
There is a second type of token called gas, that is used as a fee for the transactions to be included into a block. Besides, every smart contract execution requires a certain amount of gas to be sent along with it to force miners to include it into the blockchain.
Since 15/09/2022 original ETH network become splitted to ETH POW and ETH POS coins.
Algorithm
Ethereum is based on algorithm known as Ethash. This is a Proof-of-Work algorithm that is a modified version of a precursor algorithm known as Dagger-Hashimoto. The algorithm requires access to the entire blockchain, forcing miners to store the entire blockchain to be capable of verifying every transaction. However, the community is thinking of switching to ProgPow algorithm since Ethash is considered to be ASIC mineable.
Mining
Ethereum mining requires 6GB of GPU memory as it downloads and stores a DAG file into it. DAG file stands for Directed Acyclic Graph and is used in all Ethash coins to provide a proof of work. DAG file is generated every mining epoch and it increases from epoch to epoch. For more details, see our quick step-by-step guide on how to mine Ethereum on Nanopool.
Useful Links
- Ethererum Website - ethereum.org
- Ethereum Blog - blog.ethereum.org
- Ethereum on GitHub - github.com/ethereum
- Ethereum Wiki - github.com/ethereum/wiki
- Ethereum Blockchain Explorer - etherscan.io
- Another Blockchain Explorer - etherchain.org
- GPU Hashrate List - miningchamp.com