Ethereum

ETH

Official currency of Cryptocurrency

Ξ Symbol

About the Ethereum

Ethereum was proposed in late 2013 by programmer Vitalik Buterin and launched on July 30, 2015. Unlike Bitcoin, which was designed primarily as digital money, Ethereum was built as a programmable blockchain that can run smart contracts and decentralized applications. Its native currency is called Ether (ETH).

Vitalik Buterin chose the name 'Ethereum' after 'ether', the hypothetical invisible medium that scientists once believed permeated all of space.

Interesting Facts

Smart Contracts

Ethereum was the first blockchain to popularize smart contracts, self-executing programs that run exactly as written without intermediaries. This made possible entire industries like decentralized finance (DeFi) and NFTs.

Gas Fees

Every transaction or computation on Ethereum requires 'gas', a fee paid in ETH that compensates validators for the work. Gas prices rise and fall with network demand.

From Mining to Staking

In 2022, an upgrade called 'The Merge' switched Ethereum from energy-intensive mining to Proof-of-Stake, where validators lock up ETH to secure the network, cutting energy use by over 99%.

Historical Timeline

2013

Vitalik Buterin publishes the Ethereum whitepaper, proposing a blockchain with a built-in programming language.

2014

A public crowdsale raises funds for development, and the Ethereum Foundation is established.

2015

The Ethereum mainnet, known as 'Frontier', goes live on July 30.

2016

The DAO hack leads to a contentious hard fork, splitting the network into Ethereum (ETH) and Ethereum Classic (ETC).

2021

The EIP-1559 upgrade introduces a fee-burning mechanism, removing a portion of ETH from circulation with each transaction.

2022

'The Merge' transitions Ethereum from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake, reducing its energy consumption by roughly 99.95%.

2024

The first spot Ether ETFs are approved for trading in the United States.

Security Features

Blockchain technology (distributed ledger) Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism Public-key cryptography (wallets) Smart contract execution via the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)