What does it mean for ETH to be more like “gas” than an actual currency?
In: Technology
In short, it allows it to do, rather than to have. In analogy: gasoline can get you to the other side of the continent, money can’t get you anywhere, unless you spend it to let someone else get you to the other side of the continent.
The Ethereum network allows addresses to contain code, scripts and values, to be executed in transactions. These scripts are called contracts. This means that a script execution is open and transparent, and the execution cannot be tempered with. But you’d need gas to execute it. So again, instead of paying a third party, like a bank or accounting agency, to do important, official business, you would be able to see and trust the actions of the network.
Let’s take the purchase of a house as an example. I do not have the funds to directly purchase a house, but the contract on address XYZ is written by a mortgage supplier, and allows you to register for a mortgage. An address making a transaction to this contract is registered in the contract. Now, why is this different to a website offing a mortgage? We have to trust whatever code we can’t see on the website, but any transaction and it’s content, including the publishing of the contract, is public. Whatever the contract is doing, you can see it.
It’s quite a complex matter, but I hope I did answer the question at least a little bit. I’m happy to answer any further questions
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