TCP/IP (6 of 7)

Ethereum's technical specification potentiates uncountable codable possibilities. This potential seems especially striking in the realm of programmable finance. Ethereum's native currency and its computational dynamics invite innovative (and sometimes risky) financial experiments. In a sense, this makes Ethereum more like a kind of generic protocol on which new systems are built. Much as TCP/IP forms the fundamental basis of information transfer on our present internet, by analogy Ethereum may serve that core architectural purpose for programmable, digital value. This piece illustrates this in a deceptively simple diagram. Using data from Coin Metrics, it illustrates several key market and on-chain metrics across the 12 months of 2020: transaction volume in USD (inner circle), average fees (in ETH, dark circle), launch date (when inner circle appears), total protocol volume (dark band expanding along 2020) -- for several major projects related to decentralized finance (zooming in on the PDF, one sees the relevant ticker). Ethereum is at the base, supporting the scaffold of this expanding functionality, a potential TCP/IP of programmable money. As reinforcement of this concept, the dark band illustrating total transacted volume of 2020 reaches alignment with the width of the monthly circles. This width was calibrated to represent a trillion in overall transacted USD. Zooming in, one sees that Ethereum exceeded this in 2020. Any variation seen in this simple diagram is a reflection from raw data (time along x-axis, width, radii, etc. -- even the colors represented here are computed from RGB profiles of coin logos).

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Ethstory, Original 1 in Series 4: "0x00000 (Transforming)"

Prior series depict Ethereum's dynamism. Ethereum will transform yet more. An upgrade is now underway -- Eth2 -- the major transformation of Ethereum sometimes known as "Serenity." While Ethereum's developer community continues to innovate and expand on top of Eth1, in parallel teams of developers are beginning to implement and test Eth2. Both agendas continue to transform what is possible on Ethereum and blockchain. This is the final series of Ethstory. It is, approximately, where the story of Ethereum is at the time of this writing (mid 2021). The originals here depict this further transformation. All are based on actual data, structured and laid out in a manner that produces visuals that relay this future significance.