$ETH

Ethereum (ETH) is a decentralized, open-source blockchain system featuring its own cryptocurrency, Ether. Here's a brief overview ¹ ²:

- *Current Price*: $2,624.57, with a 3.73% increase in the last 24 hours

- *Market Cap*: $316.85 billion, ranking #2 among cryptocurrencies

- *24h Trading Volume*: $25.82 billion

- *Circulating Supply*: 120.72 million ETH

*Key Features:*

- *Smart Contracts*: Ethereum enables the creation and execution of smart contracts, powering decentralized applications (dApps)

- *Decentralized Applications*: Ethereum's ecosystem includes various dApps, such as decentralized exchanges, lending platforms, and more

- *Layer 2 Solutions*: Ethereum's Layer 2 solutions, like Arbitrum and Polygon, offer faster and cheaper transactions

*History and Development:*

- *Founded*: Ethereum was first described in a 2013 whitepaper by Vitalik Buterin and launched in July 2015

- *The Merge*: Ethereum transitioned from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake consensus in September 2022, reducing energy consumption and increasing scalability

- *Future Developments*: Ethereum's roadmap includes sharding, which will further improve scalability and reduce gas fees

*Uses:*

- *Transactions*: ETH is used to pay for transactions on the Ethereum network

- *Staking*: Validators on the Ethereum network earn ETH as rewards for securing the network

- *Trading*: ETH can be traded on various centralized and decentralized exchanges ²