Ethereum Introduction - Discussion

Hi Constandinos here.

Hi.hereā€¦just finished Bitcoin 101.

Well, in my understanding EVM is an application running on ALL ethereum nodes with a compile smart contracts and the nodes must read and execute this small contracts and they ALL must valid before execution when times shows up for a smart contract like ā€œsending the kid money after he gets good gradesā€, and not executing after one node validation.

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I am new to the client web wallet extensions and understand that one must give permission when the backend sends a request to access it by their API.

My question is how does one check the validity of the website and the API seeking conjugation as I can see this is a vulnerability in which you could get screwed if you didnā€™t know if that website and API were healthy or not? I use ā€˜webrootā€™ my end but that still doesnā€™t protect you if you consent to the API request correct?

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Hello sir, if you want to check if a website and API are secure, you are referring to an audit on it. That is mostly done by an Auditor Service, there are some 3rd party service that you can find on internet that can give you more details about it.

But what if you want to check it by yourself? for that you have some options, request the API yourself by building your own functions that can handle those request and give you a summary on them, so you can inspect them (a complex process).

Here is a website to give you a more deep understanding about the subject:

9 Questions for Top-Level API Security Auditing.

Hope this gives you a clear view of the subject, keep learning! :slight_smile:

If you have any doubt, please let us know so we can help you!

Carlos Z.

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I am in the same boat

Question: Why do all the ā€œnodesā€/ā€œminersā€ in Ethereum network need to run the smart contract? Why canā€™t some number of them do it and then broadcast the results to the rest of the nodes?

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Hi Ivan, my fiance works in finance. I mentioned the fact that a smart contract is something that cannot be undone. Could any one please give me Pros and Cons on why its useful.

I have a point actually. If I want to create a smart contract for my kid for getting good grades. Say something financially bad happens and I need that money for something else, then there is no way of stopping that? Is it really a good thing or what?

Hello sir, itā€™s like in bitcoin that all nodes have the same ledger (blockchain), even if they have it, not all of them are propagating the same data. For example: you send a transaction, the most close nodes around you will propagate the transactions to the others, until all the nodes are aware of that transaction, but just 1 or a few of them that are the most closest to you will propagate the transaction.

In Ethereum works in the same way, some nodes/miners that are more close to you will receive the transactions from the smart contract and start to propagate that transaction over the network, so all the nodes/miners are aware that your transaction is valid.

So they can be able to verify that all the instructions are not malicious or want to harm the network, all of the nodes must agree on the same result.

Hope this gives you a clear view of the subject, keep learning! :slight_smile:

If you have any doubt, please let us know so we can help you!

Carlos Z.

Hello sir, i guess you refer to the immutability of the transactions of an smart contract.

Pros:

  • Once a Transaction has been made, it can not be altered nor deleted.
  • Smart contracts carry a high degree of trust.
  • They also increase accuracy because the manual errors are eliminated.
  • The smart contract is encrypted and distributed among nodes.
  • This guarantees that it will not be lost or changed without your permission.
  • Another benefit is that most processes are automated. Similarly, most intermediaries are eliminated.
  • A user is making the agreement ā€” thereā€™s no need to rely on a broker, lawyer, or other intermediaries to confirm.
  • Other security measures are built into smart contracts as well.
  • Backups and duplicates are built into the system.
  • Safety is certain with smart contracts. Cryptography, the encryption of websites, keeps your documents safe.
  • There is no hacking. In fact, it would take an abnormally smart hacker to crack the code and infiltrate a smart contract.
  • Smart contracts also produce increased speed and efficiencies because the paperwork and manually process are avoided. There will also be increased savings because smart contracts ultimately save you money.

Cons:

  • The code is written by people, and they can make mistakes. A good example of the human error is the DAO, where developersā€™ mistakes in the code were costly for the users and the company. Hackers exploited the errors and stole about $60 million.
  • Another issue is smart contractsā€™ regulatory status.
  • Currently, smart contracts are not clearly regulated by any government, a reality that may change.
  • Smart contracts are also high-maintenance in terms of the engineering expertise required to get them up and running.
  • Smart contracts require an experienced coder to make fail-proof smart contracts that work with companyā€™s existing technology and processes.

An smart contract is just a set of instructions, you can program it what ever you like, so if for example has you said, need that money for something else, you only have to program a function inside the same smart contract that will give you that feature, lets say we can call it something like ā€œemergency buttonā€, so in case of emergency, you can call that function to give you all the money inside the contract and that will do the trick. But as long there is no emergency, the money inside of it, will remain being use for the ā€œnormal conditionā€ that as been set for.

Hope you find this useful! :slight_smile:

If you have any doubt, please let us know so we can help you!

Carlos Z.

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That is amazingā€¦ Thank you sir

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Iā€™m new to the academy. Iā€™ve finished BTC 101 and ETH 101. Currently on Trading Technical analysis strategy. Just before it gets to the JavaScript Programming section ill jump over and do Java programming course. Absolutely mind blowing.

Thanks again mate

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Iā€™m a new student at Ivan on Tech and just finished my first class! Iā€™ll be starting the Ethereum 101 class today and look forward to learning about the features of Smart contracts as well as their transparency.

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Looking forward to the course!

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Bitcoin uses utxoā€™s, ie: you have 1 utxo with a value of 1btc and you need to pay 0.3btc. The whole utxo of 1btc for input is sent and 0.7 (minus the fee) sent back to yourself.
Ethereum is different works on account models holding total balance and you just send 0.3eth that is subtracted from your account balance.
Bitcoin protocol works with batches of bitcoin, ethereum is the total unit of account

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Starting out on Ethereum 101 after completing the Bitcoin and Blockchain 101, all great learning

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I am 4 days behind you good luck, just starting eth 101 now or monday

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Thank you. I am here. Complete. :eye: :footprints:

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I am looking forward to ripping this course up so that I can advance my learning in all the amazing content The Academy has to offer!! I have been caught up in these crazy times - but am making the journey to full time crypto baby!! I am so bullish on the blockchain/crypto technology, I want to be a valuable asset to this new and beautiful space!!!

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Regarding the Bitcoin vs. Ethereum (UTXO vs. account model, fungibility and privacy) itā€™s said that the UTXOs make it harder to know precisely how much was sent to the recipients, including back to the sender which makes sense in theory, but then how is it possible when someone like the twitter handle @whale_alert posts that 1,000 BTC transferred from X wallet to Y wallet? If UTXOs supposedly obfuscate this, how is it so easily deduced?

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