 Our altcoin of the week this week is Ethereum. Warning, Game of Thrones spoilers ahead. If Bitcoin is a father of all cryptocurrencies, Ethereum is certainly the mother. She has given birth to more than 250 ERC-20-based projects that are live in the market, plus over 500 currently in progress. So what makes Ethereum different? Mainly, smart contracts. A smart contract is a special protocol intended to contribute, verify, or implement the negotiation or performance of the contract. Smart contracts perform credible transactions without third parties. Smart contracts ensure that all sides of any transaction hold up their end of the bargain so that you don't end up running into problems like this. Warning, not to trust me. Or this. Or this. Or this. Smart contracts make it so that you don't have to rely on potentially corrupt or self-serving middlemen like this. Or this. Or this. Or this. Wow, Game of Thrones would have been really boring if they had smart contracts. Ethereum is a platform fueled by Ether tokens designed for the creation of distributed applications or DApps. These DApps are built on top of the Ethereum blockchain and each has its own unique aspirations and utilities. Ethereum's smart contracts ensure that their DApps function exactly how intended without being altered or corrupted. Ethereum was founded by Vitalik Putirin. He was the founder of Bitcoin Magazine who saw the technology behind Bitcoin and said, I can do better. Which was a lot different than the most common reaction of, uh, right. With ubiquitous cries of to the moon and lambo time. Vitalik tends to cut through the noise by advocating for reasonable investment strategies and altruistic uses of cryptocurrencies. Being one of the most well-known and talked of cryptocurrencies, Ethereum has to face a lot of fud. Hackered fud, regulation fud, rumor fud, bubble fud, ban fud, fud fud, and it has survived them all. Many ambitious newcomers to the cryptocurrency scene are often described as Ethereum killers because despite the misguided notion that women are dramatic. If you ever call me sister again, I'll have you strangled in your sleep. The male-dominated crypto community can be a lot like this. Oh my god, did you hear that EOS is going to kill Ethereum? Or this. Bitcoin is the true king. Why even talk to anyone else? Or this. Why does Vitalik dress like that? It's so not fetch. Or this. Hashtag, Ethereum killer. Maybe it really is all cocks in the end. Unfortunately, we do not have time to go into Casper Protocol, where Ethereum is transitioning from proof of board to proof of stake, or go into as much detail about solidarity, the coding behind Ethereum, which has close ties to JavaScript. There's way more to Ethereum than a fun little game of thrones comparison. And if you think you've seen all that Ethereum can do, will do, then you'll probably end up like this guy. Instead of this guy. Oh wait. Oh god, never mind. Turn that off. Ugh. Incest aside, if you're interested in cryptocurrency, or more importantly, the potential of blockchain, then you should take some time and figure out what exactly can be done on Ethereum.