$BTC

ETH is the native digital currency of the Ethereum network, launched in 2015 by Vitalik Buterin and a team of developers. Ethereum is considered an open-source blockchain platform that supports smart contracts and decentralized applications (DApps). ETH allows users to pay transaction fees and execute smart contracts on the network.

Ethereum is characterized as more than just a currency, as it serves as a foundational infrastructure for many projects in the world of decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). In 2022, the network transitioned from a proof-of-work (PoW) mechanism to proof-of-stake (PoS) through the "The Merge" update, making it more efficient in energy consumption.