The dominant smart-contract platform, settling most of the activity in DeFi, NFTs, stablecoins, and Layer 2 rollups.
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Ethereum is a programmable blockchain that extends Bitcoin's design with a Turing-complete virtual machine, the EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine). Where Bitcoin's scripting language is intentionally limited, Ethereum lets developers deploy smart contracts: self-executing code that runs deterministically on every node in the network. This single design choice opened the door to DeFi, NFTs, DAOs, and most of the on-chain economy that exists in 2026.
Ethereum was proposed by Vitalik Buterin in late 2013 and launched in July 2015 with co-founders including Gavin Wood, Joseph Lubin, Charles Hoskinson (later founded Cardano), and others. ETH, the network's native token, is used to pay gas fees for executing transactions and smart contract calls. In 2022, Ethereum transitioned from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake in an event known as The Merge, reducing energy consumption by ~99.95%.
Ethereum operates as a global state machine. Every full node maintains the complete state (account balances, contract storage, nonce values), and every transaction is a state transition that all nodes execute identically. Transactions are bundled into blocks every ~12 seconds, with validators selected to propose and attest to blocks based on their staked ETH (32 ETH per validator slot).
To send a transaction, a user pays gas in ETH: a base fee (which is burned, removing ETH from circulation) plus an optional priority tip to incentivize validators. Smart contracts are deployed to addresses and called by transactions; their execution costs gas proportional to computational complexity. Most user activity in 2026 happens on Layer 2 networks like Arbitrum, Optimism, and Base, which post compressed batches back to Ethereum L1 for security.
Ethereum is the settlement layer for the bulk of crypto's economic activity. DeFi protocols (lending, decentralized exchanges, derivatives) hold tens of billions in total value locked. Stablecoins are issued primarily on Ethereum and its L2s. NFTs, on-chain identity, prediction markets, and DAO governance all run on Ethereum infrastructure. Validators earn ~3-4% APY for staking, which makes ETH function as both a productive asset and the gas token for the entire ecosystem.
Ethereum's biggest tradeoff is the constant tension between decentralization, scalability, and security (the "blockchain trilemma"). Base-layer throughput is intentionally limited (~15-30 transactions per second) to keep node operation accessible to ordinary users. The L2 scaling roadmap pushed most activity off the main chain, which works but adds complexity. Critics also flag MEV (miner/maximal extractable value) extraction by sophisticated actors, validator centralization risk in staking pools like Lido, and the regulatory uncertainty around ETH's status as a security in some jurisdictions.
Live ETH gas prices are at /api/gas. The DeFi TVL premium endpoint tracks Ethereum DeFi activity. For deeper context, see the smart contracts, Layer 2, and staking glossary entries.