Ethereum is a public blockchain platform with programmable transaction functionality. It provides a decentralized virtual machine that can execute peer-to-peer contracts using a crypto asset called Ether (unofficial code ETH).
Ethereum was initially proposed by Vitalik Buterin in late 2013 and in 2014 he described it as "A Next-Generation Cryptocurrency and Decentralized Application Platform". Development was funded by a crowd sale in August 2014, and the genesis block, marking the initial pre-beta live release of the Ethereum project, occurred on 30 July 2015. The Ethereum software project was initially developed by a Swiss company, Ethereum Switzerland GmbH (EthSuisse) and a Swiss non-profit foundation, the Ethereum Foundation.
