#Case Study - Ethereum

Ethereum is one of the most established and largest open-source blockchain cryptocurrencies, second in market capitalization only to Bitcoin. Officially named Ether (“Ethereum” describes the universe of millions of users it has created), Ethereum is one of the defining examples of the power of Crowd in modern business history.

Founded in 2013 and launched in July 2015, Ether itself was crowdfunded. It was designed from the start to be radically decentralized and open, allowing any user to place their own applications on its site. As a result, it has accumulated a vast library of decentralized finance (DeFi) applications that, because they obviate the need for intermediaries like banks and brokerages, have proved wildly popular among businesses and individual users. Remarkably, other cryptocurrencies have used Ethereum blockchain for their own offerings. Ethereum also enables users to create and exchange non-fungible tokens (NFTs). 

The intelligent use of Crowds has been a constant feature of Ethereum’s operations. In 2014, the non-profit Ethereum Foundation was founded and developed by way of an online public Crowd sale. This funding itself was unusual in that investors bought Ethereum value tokens with, of all things, Bitcoin. Two years later, the DAO (decentralized autonomous organization)—essentially, a library of smart contracts developed on the Ethereum platform—raised $150 million in funding via a Crowd sale—a record at the time. Today, all of Ethereum’s fungible and non-fungible tokens are launched via crowdfunding.