Who Controls Ethereum – The Big Picture of the Blockchain Network Painted

Without a shadow of a doubt, Ethereum is one of the biggest cryptocurrencies today. The interest in investing in it grows with each passing day, and if you are one of the potential investors, several questions may loom over your head.

One of those would inevitably be connected to the ownership and governance of Ethereum, and we are here to provide you with the answers you need.

Before investing in cryptocurrencies, you need to gather as much information as possible, so here, we will focus on one piece of the Ethereum puzzle – its ownership. Let’s walk you through everything you need to know.

What is Ethereum?

Let’s go a step back first. Before diving into who owns it, you need to know what Ethereum represents exactly. It is an open blockchain platform with a native currency called Ether (ETH).

This is a network that has popularized decentralized applications – as the name suggests, they are apps that don’t rely on central authorities. At the heart of Ethereum’s functioning are the smart contracts, which represent agreements backed by a code that executes transactions automatically.

The Ethereum project was launched in 2014, and its core tech including smart contracts, decentralized finance and NFTs has been nothing short of impressive. However, implementing this technology required the input of different people and groups.

Who is the Founder?

Vitalik Buterin, who is a Russian-Canadian programmer remains the figure behind the introduction of the second-biggest cryptocurrency.

Buterin took inspiration from Bitcoin and released a white paper in 2013, describing his new blockchain network. That network would allow developers to create decentralized apps with a new programming language.

After releasing the white paper, several like-minded people instantly got in touch with Buterin and over the next few months, all the founding members included:

• Charles Hoskinson
• Anthony Di Iorio
• Mihai Alisie
• Joseph Lubin
• Gavin Wood
• Jeffrey Wilcke

So, Do They Own and Control Ethereum Now?

Now, we arrive at the million-dollar question – who actually owns Ethereum now? As stated beforehand, Ethereum is an open-source blockchain platform that was built by dozens of developers all around the world.

The key premise of Ethereum is that it is a decentralized network, so there is no single entity that will control and own it. Sure, the people mentioned above get the credit for creating the Ethereum infrastructure, but users now have a big control over the network due to their ETH coins and their coin launch.

In a nutshell, it means that anyone who runs a network node or has ETH can validate the transactions and secure the entire Ethereum network. As a result, the success of the network heavily depends on the participation of the diverse community inside it. So, plenty of independent developers have a big role to play in Ethereum’s success.

The rapid growth of participants in the Ethereum network means that the founders and the Ethereum Foundation have no power to make unilateral changes to the network.

The extensive range of stakeholders means that Ethereum’s success relies on the following parties:

• Ether holders
• Application users – they need to interact with the app present on the Ethereum blockchain
• App developers – people who create the apps operating on the Ethereum blockchain
• Node operators – people who ensure that their node stays up-to-date with the other ones on the network
• EIP authors – responsible for consensus-reaching within the Ethereum community
• Miners – they have the important role of securing the Ethereum network, validating new transactions and promoting decentralization.

Is Ethereum Really That Decentralized?

On the surface, Ethereum is widely considered to be the most successful decentralized project in the world, but is that really the case?

Some critics argue that the network is still not as decentralized as it presents itself to be. Some estimates last year showed that the top 100 Ethereum addresses were responsible for more than 40% of the total ETH supply. For comparison, the same top 100 Bitcoin addresses are responsible for 14% of the supply.