Announcing the æthereum "pre-sale"Secure your æther today by doing nothingQ. How do I secure my share of æther?If you are a bitcoin holder, your share of æther is already secure. For example, if you control 0.001% of the bitcoin money supply, those same private keys will allow you to claim 0.001% of the initial æther supply. In general, if you control
X% of the bitcoin money supply, you would be able to claim
X% if the initial æther.
At the time of launch, Bitcoin and æthereum will effectively share the same Global Ledger.
Q. How much does it cost to claim my æther?Nothing. However, a miner may require a small transaction fee to include your æther claim transaction within a block.
Q. But I have to buy ether during the Ethereum IPO by trading real bitcoins! Why are you guys giving æther away for free if it is basically the same thing?It is easier to understand if you think about bitcoin and æthereum in terms of
ledgers rather than coins.
Nothing is being given away because you already control a spot on the ledger. æthereum is simply a new experimental Turing-complete platform for updating the primary Global Ledger (which is currently the Bitcoin Blockchain). If the æthereum platform is useful, then the market cap for æther will grow. If the platform is useless or if Turing-completeness leads to security problems, then the market cap will decline. In either case, æthereum is a low-risk method to experiment with a new ledger-update technology.
Q. Wait a second, you’re actually telling me my bitcoin private keys allow me to claim æther for free?Yes.
Q. Is there a risk that this project never launches?Since æthereum is a clone of ethereum, if ethereum fails to launch then æthereum may not launch either. The Ethereum Team makes it clear that the Ethereum Platform may never be completed or released:
Q. I am concerned that the Ethereum IPO and pre-sale may be violating SEC regulations regarding solicitation of unregistered securities. Should I be worried about æthereum?There is no ætherium IPO or pre-sale. æthereum is simply a new experimental platform for updating the primary Global Ledger (currently Bitcoin's Blockchain).
Q. I am concerned that the launch of Ethereum may be hindered by the NY BitLicenses which prohibit creating, issuing, and administering virtual currency. Do BitLicences affect æthereum?Because æthereum uses the "spin-off" technique, virtual currency is never issued by the developers. All aether is issued directly by a bitcoin user to himself (using the claim process), or by a miner who finds the next block. As said many times already, æthereum is simply a new experimental platform for updating the primary Global Ledger (currently Bitcoin's Blockchain).