Launched in 2015 by Vitalik Buterin and a team of developers, Ethereum is a decentralized platform that enables developers to build and deploy smart contracts and decentralized applications (dApps). Unlike Bitcoin, which focuses solely on peer-to-peer transactions, Ethereum allows for programmable transactions and the creation of custom tokens through its ERC-20 and ERC-721 standards.
ETH is the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum network, used to pay for transactions (gas fees), run smart contracts, and participate in various decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols.
