I am not a fan of cryptocurrencies at all... In my opinion their purpose is just gambling with extra steps. So I also never really looked into them.
But recently I started reading about Ethereum and it started to get my interest, and is even getting me a bit hyped...
If I understand it correctly, Ethereum is a new kind of internet. For example, when I will submit this question on Stackexchange, my webbrowser sends a request to Stackexchange's server which sends me a response. The problem being that I don't know what happens on that Stackexchange's server.
But if the Stackexchange-website would be on Ethereum, my browser would send a request to the Ethereum-network which has different nodes. Those nodes work would work together to keep the application online and validated.
My post would not be saved in a database which can be altered. But would be put in the blockchain which cannot be altered. Is that correct?
And another use of Ethereum are smart contracts. Which are a way of digitizing, automating and blockchain-validating contracts. I can for example make a smart-contract which says: "Person Foo gets to be the new owner of my house when he transfers 500 ETH to my wallet with address xxxx". When Foo follows the requirements and sends the correct amount to the correct wallet, the contract automatically detects that and gets validated. The contract cannot get altered because the code and progress is also saved in the blockchain, right?
Because fiat currencies are by definition centralized, the founders of Ethereum needed a kind of decentralized currency and thus they made ETH?
So the 'cryptocurrency' ETH is just the valuta used with the purpose of being used in the automated smart contracts? It's not meant to be a wannabe-replacement for fiat currencies but are just a small piece of the puzzel in the story of Ethereum?