In 2014, Vitalik Buterin set up a start-up called Ethereum, which provided a groundbreaking platform that allowed him to change the internet. In order to raise money, he set up an ICO for which he collected money. Each investor received a proportionally investment in a number of Ether. One Ether token was only € 0.25 at that time.
The concept of Ethereum and the token Ether can quickly cause confusion. The most important difference between Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies is that it not only has a cryptocurrency, but also an environment for developers. In this environment, everyone can take advantage of blockchain technology to build their own projects and dApps (decentralised apps) through smart contracts. You can see Ethereum as the Internet and dApps as websites that run on it. Every transaction made on the blockchain is recorded and measured in ‘Gas’. The price of this ‘gas’ is paid by the applicant in Ether. So Ether is the currency with which everything in the Ethereum network is ‘paid for’. When people talk about ETH, they are actually talking about the value of the Ether in their respective Ethereum blockchain.
