6 Revolutionary Whitepapers That Recoded the Deeds of Blockchain Forever

2. Ethereum: A Next-Generation Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform

In 2013, programmer Vitalik Buterin introduced the Ethereum whitepaper. It proposed a blockchain with a built-in Turing-complete programming language to create "smart contracts." These contracts, which automatically execute based on coded conditions, could eliminate the need for trusted intermediaries in agreements. Since then, Ethereum has been used for launching countless Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) and building decentralized applications (dApps), making it a cornerstone of blockchain's evolution.