$ETH

ETH refers to Ethereum, a decentralized open-source blockchain system with its own cryptocurrency, Ether. Here's a brief overview¹:

- *Current Price*: $1,800.35, with a 1.07% increase in the last 24 hours

- *Market Capitalization*: $217.46 billion, ranking #2 among cryptocurrencies

- *Trading Volume*: $15.88 billion in the last 24 hours

# Key Features

- *Smart Contracts*: Ethereum enables developers to build decentralized applications (dApps) using smart contracts

- *Decentralized Finance (DeFi)*: Ethereum-based DeFi applications provide financial instruments without traditional intermediaries

- *Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)*: Ethereum allows creation and exchange of unique digital assets

# History and Development

- *Founded*: Ethereum was conceived in 2013 by Vitalik Buterin and launched on July 30, 2015

- *The Merge*: Ethereum transitioned from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS) in September 2022, reducing energy consumption by 99%

If you're looking for ETH Zurich, it's a different story. ETH Zurich is a public university in Zurich, Switzerland, focusing on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.²