Hot on the heels of their successful XRP launch, Wirex has delighted its 1.8 million clients once again with the addition of an Ethereum Wallet to its suite of services. “Ethereum is the second highest-value cryptocurrency after Bitcoin and its inclusion on our platform marks an important step for Wirex users”, says Pavel Matveev, co-founder. Wirex facilitates the seamless exchange of Ethereum with other cryptocurrencies, as well as allowing users to buy, sell and spend both fiat and cryptos instantly via the Wirex Visa Payment card.*
Ethereum – smarter than your average crypto
Dmitry Lazarichev, co-founder of Wirex, says, “Ethereum stands out from other cryptocurrencies because whilst it is a digital currency, it has an entirely different protocol to Bitcoin. Besides using Ether to transfer money, it allows you to execute smart contracts. These smart contracts will have the effect of eventually eliminating the middle man from contracts, resulting in savings for the consumer”.
The utility underpinning Ethereum is what makes it so appealing to crypto enthusiasts. The addition of the Ethereum wallet provides Wirex users with access to a stable and innovative altcoin.
Ethereum launched in 2014 with an $18 million ICO. Its creator, Russian-Canadian Vitalik Buterin, was a young programmer and prolific writer on the topic of cryptocurrencies and blockchain. He was paid in BTC – between three to five BTC per article – and funded his projects with these earnings.
In 2012, Buterin co-founded Bitcoin Magazine with fellow crypto pioneer Mihai Alisie. Buterin believed that “decentralized technologies [were] a natural fit for many kinds of applications that had a central controller,” but felt that the Bitcoin blockchain was limited. He studied the architecture of existing blockchain applications and conceived the idea for Ethereum.
The Ethereum white paper was released in late 2013 and proposed “a decentralised platform that runs smart contracts”. It boasted the functionality of the Bitcoin blockchain but with wider capabilities. Ethereum represents the second generation of blockchain technology. Recognising the vulnerabilities of storing information online, it has produced solutions that have captivated both investors and institutions.
The popularity of Ethereum has been driven by the support of large corporates who have seen the value of the smart contract protocol. A group called the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) was founded last year with the aim of connecting large companies to technology vendors in order to facilitate projects using the blockchain. The list of members is impressive, including a significant number of Fortune 500 companies. This alliance has added a lot of legitimacy to Ethereum and cryptocurrencies as a whole.
Ethereum can be spent, bought and sold on the Wirex platform like their other cryptos (Litecoin, XRP and Bitcoin) and should prove to be a very welcome addition to the Wirex suite of fiat and cryptocurrencies. “We are pleased that we can now offer this popular crypto, but our product growth does not stop here. We have some interesting new services in the pipeline and our recently earned FCA e-money licence has opened the doors for even more products and locations in the near future” ends Matveev.
To celebrate the launch of the ETH wallet, Wirex has teamed up with CryptoDisrupt to donate 20ETH to a charity chosen by the cryptocurrency community. Crypto fans can nominate a charity of their choice by September 11; the winning charity will be selected randomly on September 14.
*Only available to EEA users