Imagine a world where you don’t need banks, middlemen, or corporations to control your money or online interactions. That’s what Ethereum is building—a decentralized platform where people can create and run applications that operate without a central authority.

Ethereum was born from the vision of Vitalik Buterin, a young programmer who saw Bitcoin as revolutionary but limited. In 2015, he and a team of developers launched Ethereum, giving the world smart contracts—self-executing agreements that don’t need a lawyer or company to enforce them.

Ethereum’s heart is Ether (ETH), its cryptocurrency, which fuels the network. If you want to make a transaction or run an app, you need ETH to pay a “gas fee” (a small charge to compensate those securing the network).

Unlike Bitcoin, which mainly functions as digital gold, Ethereum is more like a global computer. It powers decentralized applications (dApps)—from financial services (DeFi like Uniswap and Aave) to digital art and collectibles (NFTs like Bored Apes).

In 2022, Ethereum took a major step forward with The Merge, switching from the energy-hungry Proof of Work (PoW) system to the eco-friendly Proof of Stake (PoS). This not only made Ethereum greener but also laid the foundation for future upgrades to make it faster and cheaper.

Ethereum is still evolving, with upcoming improvements like Danksharding to reduce fees and speed up transactions. It’s not perfect, but it's a community-driven experiment in reimagining the internet and finance, giving people more control over their digital lives.

Want to explore how Ethereum can work for you?