Ethereum

Ethereum is a decentralized blockchain platform that enables developers to build and deploy smart contracts and decentralized applications (dApps). Launched in 2015 by Vitalik Buterin and other co-founders, Ethereum pioneered the concept of programmable blockchain.

The native cryptocurrency, Ether (ETH), is used to pay for transaction fees and computational services on the network. Since The Merge in September 2022, Ethereum operates on a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism, significantly reducing its energy consumption.

Ethereum is the foundation for most of DeFi (Decentralized Finance), NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens), and numerous layer-2 scaling solutions, making it one of the most important platforms in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.