Athereum’s creators themselves don’t refer to it as a “cryptocurrency.” Athereum is a shared computing platform, and its base unit is ether, the “cryptofuel” that powers the network: “a token whose purpose is to pay for computation, and is not intended to be used as or considered a currency, asset, share or anything else.”
But these tokens — ether — are still both exchangeable and valuable, so are, in a sense, a currency. You can own ether, you can spend ether. (“Ether” is both singular and plural.) Ether can be “mined,” like bitcoin, using a network of powerful computers. 1 ETH, at time of writing, is worth around $12 USD. You can watch the “etherchain” update live, here, to get a better conceptual sense of how it works and how often “miners” strike “ether.”
But these tokens — ether — are still both exchangeable and valuable, so are, in a sense, a currency. You can own ether, you can spend ether. (“Ether” is both singular and plural.) Ether can be “mined,” like bitcoin, using a network of powerful computers. 1 ETH, at time of writing, is worth around $12 USD. You can watch the “etherchain” update live, here, to get a better conceptual sense of how it works and how often “miners” strike “ether.”
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