Ethereum

Ethereum (ETH) is an open-source blockchain platform on which developers build and deploy smart contracts and decentralized applications without a central authority. It works as a programmable shared computer, and its applications include financial protocols, NFT marketplaces and games.

Vitalik Buterin proposed the network in 2013, and it launched in July 2015 with seven co-founders involved in its creation. Gavin Wood created Solidity and the technical specification of the Ethereum Virtual Machine, while Joseph Lubin founded ConsenSys.

The network launched the Beacon Chain in 2020 and applied the London hard fork in 2021. That fork added the EIP-1559 mechanism, which burns part of the fee on each transaction. In September 2022 it moved from proof of work to Proof of Stake in an event called the Merge, which cut its energy use by over 99%.

Validators lock up ETH as collateral so they can propose and validate blocks. ETH also pays transaction fees, known as gas, and serves as collateral in DeFi protocols.