$ETH

Ethereum (ETH) is a decentralized, open-source blockchain platform that enables developers to build and deploy smart contracts and decentralized applications (dApps). Unlike Bitcoin, which was primarily designed as a digital currency, Ethereum was created to be a more versatile platform for blockchain-based development. It was proposed by Vitalik Buterin in late 2013 and officially launched in 2015. The native cryptocurrency of Ethereum is called Ether (ETH), which is used to pay for transactions and computational services on the network.

One of Ethereum’s most significant innovations is its ability to execute smart contracts—self-executing agreements with the terms directly written into code. These contracts are immutable and trustless, meaning they run exactly as programmed without the need for intermediaries. This has led to a surge in decentralized finance (DeFi), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and other innovative blockchain applications.

Ethereum transitioned from a proof-of-work (PoW) to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism in 2022 with the Ethereum 2.0 upgrade, greatly reducing its energy consumption and improving scalability. Today, Ethereum remains one of the most influential and widely-used blockchain platforms in the world. Would you like a breakdown of its main features?