You’ve probably heard about Ethereum until now, as it is the 2nd largest crypto in the sector, famous for its decentralized applications and smart contract capabilities. The Ethereum price USD has grown significantly since the asset broke into the market and related investment vehicles like ETFs emerged, raising the interest of investors and developers alike. It used to rely on a PoW model, but it has transitioned to a PoS algorithm, marking the first significant upgrade in its ecosystem, which was only the first step in its journey toward a more energy-efficient network. 

These are all well-known facts about Ethereum which you have probably heard about before, but did you know that Ethereum actually works from space as long as you have a WiFi connection? How impressive is that? In this blog, we will dive into some of the most fascinating facts about Ethereum, so read on! 

Ethereum has a “Difficulty Bomb”  

Here’s the first interesting fact about Ethereum: its built-in mechanism, also called the Ice Age or the Difficulty Bomb, enhances the difficulty of mining Ethereum. This mechanism was implemented to encourage miners to improve their systems and transition from the PoW consensus algorithm to the PoS model.

The Difficulty Bomb was said to have an impact on the profitability of Ethereum mining. This is because mining rewards would reduce as the difficulty level is enhanced. As a result, miners had to transition to other networks or decrease their mining operations on Ethereum. Six upgrades were necessary to push back the Difficulty Bomb, and fortunately, Ethereum Classic forked before the shift from PoW to PoS occurred, resulting in the creation of other mineable forks.

Ethereum has a minimal issuance supply cap

While Bitcoin has a fixed supply cap, things are not the same for Ethereum – there are no limits to how extensive its supply should be. But it functions on a mechanism called minimum viable issuance, which is designed to balance the ETH inflation rate. The purpose of this mechanism is to incentivize validators while ensuring the security of the network.

Ethereum Improvement Proposals (known as EIPs) are the ones to adjust the community consensus and the issuance rate. Moreover, Ethereum has received an element of deflation because a portion of every transaction fee was burned under EIP-1559.

One of Ethereum’s nodes was launched in space

Can you imagine Ethereum being launched in the space? It sounds surreal, but this actually did happen in 2021. A blockchain startup sent one of Ethereum’s nodes to orbit with the goal of expanding Ethereum’s network beyond Earth.

The purpose of this project was to boost the resilience and security of the blockchain, and according to the startup, it was more cost-effective than geostationary satellites. The blockchain-powered satellite is used for data processing and transmission, application development and in-space data storage. Now, how incredible is that?

Ethereum is Turing complete

A system is considered to be “Turing complete” when it can emulate a Turing machine. But what is a Turing machine, anyway? Simply put, it represents a theoretical construct that the computer scientist Alan Turing created. A Turing complete system can solve any computational problem, just like Ethereum’s blockchain does, enabling developers to write smart contracts and programs.

This is possible through Serpent or Solidity – programming languages used with Ethereum- in order to carry out looping and branching statements. This is an essential functionality required to implement non-trivial computer programs.

Ethereum’s test networks’ names were inspired by subway stations

Ethereum enables developers to use testnets as a way to experiment with applications and smart contracts before they deploy them on the network. These testnets include Rinkeby, Kovan, and Ropsten, providing simulated environments for developers to try their applications.

What’s interesting about these testnets is that they are named after metro stations. For instance, Kovan was inspired by a Singapore subway station, while Rinkeby is the name of a subway station in Stockholm. 

Ethereum’s story is interesting in all ways, and this also true when it comes to its origins. The vision for Ethereum was inspired by an anime called Castle In The Sky, which is the work of Hayao Miyazaki, a manga artist and Japanese animator.

One of the characters in the anime used Aethereum, a magic crystal that enabled the extraction of energy from the air. The flying stone’s crystal was more than just a source of energy – it also represented the path to the heroes’ valuable goal. Vitalik Buterin found the name of the crystal and the story so inspiring that he used it when creating Ethereum. Luckily, Ethereum succeeded in living up to the potential of the story, given that it is also magical in its own way and has had a huge impact on the crypto sector.

Ethereum wasn’t always the 2nd biggest crypto

Those who are new to the crypto space may think that Ethereum has always been Bitcoin’s close friend, but this is a wrong assumption. Although it has succeeded to come so far and establish itself as the 2nd most popular cryptocurrency in the world, there was another asset that had a spot next to Bitcoin, namely Litecoin.

After Ethereum’s onset, however, things changed quickly because its value increased so much that it became the incredible asset it is today. Ethereum’s journey has been impressive, and its future innovations will likely continue to shape its ecosystem and the overall crypto market.

The bottom line

Ethereum is undoubtedly a fantastic invention of Vitalik Buterin, and its unique features bring something different to the crypto landscape. Investors and developers alike love Ethereum, and it is easy to understand why: it’s not just a profitable investment but also a fascinating network that enables endless possibilities. And considering its future roadmap, there will likely be more remarkable developments in its ecosystem in the future, so keep an eye on the trends, and prepare to be amazed even further!

As you can see, it’s not only its features that make Ethereum so appealing – there are also many interesting facts about it, from its Turing-complete language and Difficulty Bomb to the first Ethereum node that was launched in space. Which one of these facts about Ethereum do you find most impressive?