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| ethereum.orgSkip to main contentLearnUseBuildParticipateResearchSearchLanguages ENHelp update this pageThere’s a new version of this page but it’s only in English right now. Help us translate the latest version.Translate pageNo bugs here!This page is not being translated. We've intentionally left this page in English for now.Don't show againEthereumWelcome to EthereumEthereum is the community-run technology powering the cryptocurrency ether (ETH) and thousands of decentralized applications.Explore EthereumGet startedethereum.org is your portal into the world of Ethereum. The tech is new and ever-evolving – it helps to have a guide. Here's what we recommend you do if you want to dive in.Pick a walletA wallet lets you connect to Ethereum and manage your funds.Get ETHETH is the currency of Ethereum – you can use it in applications.Use a dappDapps are applications powered by Ethereum. See what you can do.Start buildingIf you want to start coding with Ethereum, we have documentation, tutorials, and more in our developer portal.What is Ethereum?Ethereum is a technology that's home to digital money, global payments, and applications. The community has built a booming digital economy, bold new ways for creators to earn online, and so much more. It's open to everyone, wherever you are in the world – all you need is the internet.What is Ethereum?More on digital moneyA fairer financial systemToday, billions of people can’t open bank accounts, others have their payments blocked. Ethereum's decentralized finance (DeFi) system never sleeps or discriminates. With just an internet connection, you can send, receive, borrow, earn interest, and even stream funds anywhere in the world.Explore DeFiThe internet of assetsEthereum isn't just for digital money. Anything you can own can be represented, traded and put to use as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). You can tokenise your art and get royalties automatically every time it's re-sold. Or use a token for something you own to take out a loan. The possibilities are growing all the time.More on NFTsAn open internetToday, we gain access to 'free' internet services by giving up control of our personal data. Ethereum services are open by default – you just need a wallet. These are free and easy to set up, controlled by you, and work without any personal info.Explore the open internetMore on walletsCode examplesYour own bankYou can build a bank powered by logic you've programmed.Your own currencyYou can create tokens that you can transfer and use across applications.A JavaScript Ethereum walletYou can use existing languages to interact with Ethereum and other applications.An open, permissionless DNSYou can reimagine existing services as decentralized, open applications.A new frontier for developmentEthereum and its apps are transparent and open source. You can fork code and re-use functionality others have already built. If you don't want to learn a new language you can just interact with open-sourced code using JavaScript and other existing languages.Developer portalEthereum todayThe latest network statisticsTotal ETH stakedThe total amount of ETH currently being staked and securing the network.31.33M 30d90dTransactions todayThe number of transactions successfully processed on the network in the last 24 hours.1.157M 30d90dValue locked in DeFi (USD)The amount of money in decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, the Ethereum digital economy.$138.2B 30d90dNodesEthereum is run by thousands of volunteers around the globe, known as nodes.6,840 30d90dJoin the ethereum.org communityJoin almost 40 000 members on our Discord server(opens in a new tab).Join our monthly community calls for exciting updates on Ethereum.org development and important ecosystem news. Get the chance to ask questions, share ideas, and provide feedback - it's the perfect opportunity to be part of the thriving Ethereum community.☎️ Ethereum.org Community Call - March 2024March 28, 2024 at 16:00(UTC)Join Discord(opens in a new tab)Add to calendar(opens in a new tab)Upcoming callsMar 21, 2024⚙️ ethereum.org Office Hours [S3E1](opens in a new tab)Mar 13, 2024 QA session - ethereum.org portal(opens in a new tab)Previous callsFeb 28, 2024 QA session - ethereum.org portal(opens in a new tab)Feb 29, 2024☎️ Ethereum.org Community Call - February 2024(opens in a new tab)Nov 1, 2023 QA session - ethereum.org portal(opens in a new tab)Feb 14, 2024 QA session - ethereum.org portal(opens in a new tab)Explore ethereum.orgLevel up your upgrade knowledgeThe Ethereum roadmap consists of interconnected upgrades designed to make the network more scalable, secure, and sustainable.Ethereum for enterpriseSee how Ethereum can open up new business models, reduce your costs and future-proof your business.The Ethereum communityEthereum is all about community. It's made up of people from all different backgrounds and interests. See how you can join in.Contribute to ethereum.orgThis website is open source with hundreds of community contributors. You can propose edits to any of the content on this site, suggest awesome new features, or help us squash bugs.More on contributingGitHub(opens in a new tab)Website last updated: February 16, 2024(opens in a new tab)(opens in a new tab)(opens in a new tab)Use EthereumFind walletGet ETHDapps - Decentralized applicationsLayer 2Run a nodeStablecoinsStake ETHLearnLearn HubWhat is Ethereum?What is ether (ETH)?Ethereum walletsGas feesEthereum security and scam preventionWhat is Web3?Smart contractsEthereum energy consumptionEthereum roadmapEthereum Improvement ProposalsHistory of EthereumEthereum WhitepaperEthereum glossaryEthereum governanceBlockchain bridgesZero-knowledge proofsQuiz HubDevelopersGet startedDocumentationTutorialsLearn by codingSet up local environmentEcosystemCommunity hubEthereum FoundationEthereum Foundation Blog(opens in a new tab)Ecosystem Support Program(opens in a new tab)Ethereum bug bounty programEcosystem Grant ProgramsEthereum brand assetsDevcon(opens in a new tab)EnterpriseMainnet EthereumPrivate EthereumEnterpriseAbout ethereum.orgAbout usJobsContributingLanguage supportPrivacy policyTerms of useCookie policyPress Contact(opens in a new t

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What is Ethereum? | ethereum.org

is Ethereum? | ethereum.orgSkip to main contentLearnUseBuildParticipateResearchSearchLanguages ENHelp update this pageThere’s a new version of this page but it’s only in English right now. Help us translate the latest version.Translate pageNo bugs here!This page is not being translated. We've intentionally left this page in English for now.Don't show againWhat is Ethereum?The foundation for our digital futureA complete beginner's guide to how Ethereum works, the benefits it brings and how it's being used by millions of people around the world.Let's startSummaryEthereum is a network of computers all over the world that follow a set of rules called the Ethereum protocol. The Ethereum network acts as the foundation for communities, applications, organizations and digital assets that anyone can build and use.You can create an Ethereum account from anywhere, at any time, and explore a world of apps or build your own. The core innovation is that you can do all this without trusting a central authority that could change the rules or restrict your access.Keep reading to learn more…What can Ethereum do?Banking for everyoneNot everyone has access to financial services. But all you need to access Ethereum and the lending, borrowing and savings products built on it is an internet connection.An open internetAnyone can interact with Ethereum network or build applications on it. This allows you to control your own assets and identity, instead of them being controlled by a few mega-corporations.A peer-to-peer networkEthereum allows you to coordinate, make agreements or transfer digital assets directly with other people. You don't need to rely on intermediaries.Censorship-resistantNo government or company has control over Ethereum. Decentralization makes it nearly impossible for anyone to stop you from receiving payments or using services on Ethereum.Commerce guaranteesCustomers have a secure, built-in guarantee that funds will only change hands if you provide what was agreed. Likewise, developers can have certainty that the rules won't change on them.Composable productsAll apps are built on the same blockchain with a shared global state, meaning they can build off each other (like Lego bricks). This allows for better products and experiences and assurances that no-one can remove any tools apps rely upon.What is a blockchain?What is a cryptocurrency?A blockchain is a database of transactions that is updated and shared across many computers in a network. Every time a new set of transactions is added, its called a “block” - hence the name blockchain. Public blockchains like Ethereum allow anyone to add, but not remove, data. If someone wanted to alter any of the information or cheat the system, they’d need to do so on the majority of computers on the network. That is a lot! This makes decentralized blockchains like Ethereum highly secure.Cryptocurrency is a term used to describe many types of fungible digital tokens secured using a blockchain. It all started with Bitcoin. Bitcoin can be used to transfer value between two parties without having to trust a middleman. You only have to trust the Bitcoin code, which is all open and freely available.The reason assets such as bitcoin and ether are called “cryptocurrencies” is that the security of your data and assets is guaranteed by cryptography, not by trusting an institution or corporation to act honestly.Ethereum has its own native cryptocurrency, ether (ETH), which is used to pay for certain activities on the network. It can be transferred to other users or swapped for other tokens on Ethereum. Ether is special because it is used to pay for the computation required to build and run apps and organizations on Ethereum.Why would I use Ethereum?If you're interested in more resilient, open, and trustworthy ways to coordinate globally, create organizations, build apps and share value, Ethereum is for you. Ethereum is a story that is written by all of us, so come and discover what incredible worlds we can build with it together.Ethereum has also been invaluable for people who have had to handle uncertainty around the security or soundness or mobility of their assets due to external forces outside of their control.Cheaper and Faster Crossborder PaymentsStablecoins are a novel type of cryptocurrency that relies on a more stable asset as the basis for its value. Most of them are linked to the United States dollar and therefore maintain the value of that currency. These allow for a very cheap and stable global payment system. Many current stablecoins are built on the Ethereum network.Ethereum and stablecoins simplify the process of sending money overseas. It often takes only few minutes to move funds across the globe, as opposed to the several business days or even weeks that it may take your average bank, and for a fraction of the price. Additionally, there is no extra fee for making a high value transaction, and there are zero restrictions on where or why you are sending your money.The Quickest Help in Times of CrisisIf you are lucky enough to have multiple banking options through trusted institutions where you live, you may take for granted the financial freedom, security and stability that they offer. But for many people around the world facing political repression or economic hardship, financial institutions may not provide the protection or services they need.When war, economic catastrophes or crackdowns on civil liberties struck the residents of Venezuela(opens in a new tab), Cuba(opens in a new tab), Afghanistan(opens in a new tab), Nigeria(opens in a new tab), Belarus(opens in a new tab), and Ukraine(opens in a new tab), cryptocurrencies constituted the quickest and often the only option to retain financial agency.1(opens in a new tab) As seen in these examples, cryptocurrencies like Ethereum can provide unfettered access to the global economy when people are cut off from the outside world. Additionally, stablecoins offer a store of value when local currencies are collapsing due to superinflation.Empowering CreatorsIn 2021 alone, artists, musicians, writers, and other creators used Ethereum to earn around $3.5 billion collectively. This makes Ethereum one of the largest global platforms for creators, alongside Spotify, YouTube, and Etsy. Learn more(opens in a new tab).Empowering GamersPlay to earn games (where players are actually rewarded for playing the games) have recently emerged and are transforming the gaming industry. Traditionally, it is often prohibited to trade or transfer in-game assets to other players for real money. This forces players to use black market websites that are often a security risk. Blockchain gaming embraces the in-game economy and promotes such behavior in a trusted manner.Moreover, players are incentivized by being able to trade in-game tokens for real money and thus being truly rewarded for their play time.2010Investors2014InvestorsDevelopersCompaniesNowInvestorsDevelopersCompaniesArtistsMusiciansWritersGamersRefugeesEthereum in numbers4k+Projects built on Ethereum 96M+Accounts (wallets) with an ETH balance 53.3M+Smart contracts on Ethereum $410BValue secured on Ethereum $3.5BCreator earnings on Ethereum in 2021 1.236MNumber of transactions today Who runs Ethereum?Ethereum is not controlled by any particular entity. It exists whenever there are connected computers running software following the Ethereum protocol and adding to the Ethereum blockchain. Each of these computers is known as a node. Nodes can be run by anyone, although to participate in securing the network you have to stake ETH (Ethereum’s native token). Anyone with 32 ETH can do this without needing permission.Even the Ethereum source code is not produced by a single entity. Anyone can suggest changes to the protocol and discuss upgrades. There are several implementations of the Ethereum protocol that are produced by independent organizations in several programming languages, and they are usually built in the open and encourage community contributions.Run a nodeWhat are smart contracts?Smart contracts are computer programs living on the Ethereum blockchain. They execute when triggered by a transaction from a user. They make Ethereum very flexible in what it can do. These programs act as building blocks for decentralized apps and organizations.Have you ever used a product that changed its terms of service? Or removed a feature you found useful? Once a smart contract is published to Ethereum, it will be online and operational for as long as Ethereum exists. Not even the author can take it down. Since smart contracts are automated, they do not discriminate against any user and are always ready to use.Popular examples of smart contracts are lending apps, decentralized trading exchanges, insurance, quadratic funding, social networks, NFTs - basically anything you can think of.More on smart contractsExplore dappsMeet ether, Ethereum's cryptocurrencyMany actions on the Ethereum network require some work to be done on Ethereum's embedded computer (known as the Ethereum Virtual Machine). This computation is not free; it is paid for using Ethereum's native cryptocurrency called ether (ETH). This means you need at least a small amount of ether to use the network.Ether is purely digital, and you can send it to anyone anywhere in the world instantly. The supply of ether isn’t controlled by any government or company - it is decentralized and completely transparent. Ether is issued in a precise manner according to the protocol, only to stakers who secure the network.What is ether?Get ETHWhat about Ethereum's energy consumption?On September 15, 2022, Ethereum went through The Merge upgrade which transitioned Ethereum from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake.The Merge was Ethereum's biggest upgrade and reduced the energy consumption required to secure Ethereum by 99.95%, creating a more secure network for a much smaller carbon cost. Ethereum is now a low-carbon blockchain while boosting its security and scalability.More on energy consumptionThe Merge updateI heard crypto is being used as a tool for criminal activity. Is this true?Like any technology, it will sometimes be misused. However, because all Ethereum transactions happen on an open blockchain, it’s often easier for authorities to track illicit activity than it would be in the traditional financial system, arguably making Ethereum a less appealing choice for those who would rather go undetected.Crypto is used much less than fiat currencies for criminal purposes according to the key findings of a recent report by Europol, the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation:“The use of cryptocurrencies for illicit activities seems to comprise only a small part of the overall cryptocurrency economy, and it appears to be comparatively smaller than the amount of illicit funds involved in traditional finance.”Europol Spotlight - Cryptocurrencies - Tracing the evolution of criminal finances.pdf(opens in a new tab) EN (1.4 MB)Chainalysis (2021), The 2021 Crypto Crime report(opens in a new tab) ENWhat is the difference between Ethereum and Bitcoin?Launched in 2015, Ethereum builds on Bitcoin's innovation, with some big differences.Both let you use digital money without payment providers or banks. But Ethereum is programmable, so you can also build and deploy decentralized applications on its network.Bitcoin enables us to send basic messages to one another about what we think is valuable. Establishing value without authority is already powerful. Ethereum extends this: rather than just messages, you can write any general program, or contract. There is no limit to the kind of contracts which can be created and agreed upon, hence great innovation happens on the Ethereum network.While Bitcoin is only a payment network, Ethereum is more like a marketplace of financial services, games, social networks and other apps.Further readingWeek in Ethereum News(opens in a new tab) - A weekly newsletter covering key developments across the ecosystem.Atoms, Institutions, Blockchains(opens in a new tab) - Why blockchains matter?Kernel(opens in a new tab) Ethereum's DreamExplore EthereumMake something with EthereumIf you want to try building with Ethereum, read our docs, try some tutorials, or check out the tools you need to get started.Start buildingThe Ethereum communityOur community includes people from all backgrounds, including artists, crypto-anarchists, fortune 500 companies, and now you. Find out how you can get involved today.Meet the communityTest your Ethereum knowledgeLoading...Was this page helpful?YesNoWebsite last updated: February 16, 2024(opens in a new tab)(opens in a new tab)(opens in a new tab)Use EthereumFind walletGet ETHDapps - Decentralized applicationsLayer 2Run a nodeStablecoinsStake ETHLearnLearn HubWhat is Ethereum?What is ether (ETH)?Ethereum walletsGas feesEthereum security and scam preventionWhat is Web3?Smart contractsEthereum energy consumptionEthereum roadmapEthereum Improvement ProposalsHistory of EthereumEthereum WhitepaperEthereum glossaryEthereum governanceBlockchain bridgesZero-knowledge proofsQuiz HubDevelopersGet startedDocumentationTutorialsLearn by codingSet up local environmentEcosystemCommunity hubEthereum FoundationEthereum Foundation Blog(opens in a new tab)Ecosystem Support Program(opens in a new tab)Ethereum bug bounty programEcosystem Grant ProgramsEthereum brand assetsDevcon(opens in a new tab)EnterpriseMainnet EthereumPrivate EthereumEnterpriseAbout ethereum.orgAbout usJobsContributingLanguage supportPrivacy policyTerms of useCookie policyPress Contact(opens in a new t

Ethereum - Wikipedia

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1History

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1.1Founding (2013–2014)

1.2Development (2014)

1.3Launch and the DAO event (2014–2016)

1.4Continued development and milestones (2017–present)

1.4.1CryptoKitties and the ERC-721 NFT standard

1.4.2Continued developments

1.5Ethereum 2.0

2Design

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2.1Ether

2.2Accounts

2.2.1Addresses

2.3Virtual machine

2.4Gas

3Applications

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3.1Contract source code

3.2ERC-20 tokens

3.3Non-fungible tokens (NFTs)

3.4Decentralized finance

3.5Enterprise software

3.6Permissioned ledgers

3.7Performance

4Regulation

5Notes

6References

7External links

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Ethereum

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Open-source blockchain computing platform

EthereumLogoOriginal author(s)Vitalik ButerinGavin WoodInitial release30 July 2015; 8 years ago (2015-07-30)Stable release1.12.2 / 13 August 2023; 6 months ago (2023-08-13)Development statusActiveSoftware usedEVM 1 BytecodeWritten inGo, Rust, C#, C++, Java, Python, Nim, TypeScriptOperating systemCross-platformPlatformx86-64, ARMAvailable inMultilingual, but primarily EnglishTypeDistributed computingLicenseOpen-source licensesActive hosts~8,600 nodes (6 June 2023)[1]Websiteethereum.org

Ethereum is a decentralized blockchain with smart contract functionality. Ether (Abbreviation: ETH;[a] sign: Ξ) is the native cryptocurrency of the platform. Among cryptocurrencies, ether is second only to bitcoin in market capitalization.[2][3] It is open-source software.

Ethereum was conceived in 2013 by programmer Vitalik Buterin.[4] Additional founders of Ethereum included Gavin Wood, Charles Hoskinson, Anthony Di Iorio, and Joseph Lubin.[5] In 2014, development work began and was crowdfunded, and the network went live on 30 July 2015.[6] Ethereum allows anyone to deploy permanent and immutable decentralized applications onto it, with which users can interact.[7] Decentralized finance (DeFi) applications provide financial instruments that do not directly rely on financial intermediaries like brokerages, exchanges, or banks. This facilitates borrowing against cryptocurrency holdings or lending them out for interest.[8][9] Ethereum also allows users to create and exchange non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which are tokens that can be tied to unique digital assets, such as images. Additionally, many other cryptocurrencies utilize the ERC-20 token standard on top of the Ethereum blockchain and have utilized the platform for initial coin offerings.

On 15 September 2022, Ethereum transitioned its consensus mechanism from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS) in an upgrade process known as "the Merge". This has cut Ethereum's energy usage by 99%.[10]

History

Founding (2013–2014)

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin in 2015

Ethereum was initially described in late 2013 in a white paper by Vitalik Buterin,[4][11] a programmer and co-founder of Bitcoin Magazine, that described a way to build decentralized applications.[12][13] Buterin argued to the Bitcoin Core developers that Bitcoin and blockchain technology could benefit from other applications besides money and that it needed a more robust language for application development[14]: 88 that could lead to attaching[clarification needed] real-world assets, such as stocks and property, to the blockchain.[15] In 2013, Buterin briefly worked with eToro CEO Yoni Assia on the Colored Coins project and drafted its white paper outlining additional use cases for blockchain technology.[16] However, after failing to gain agreement on how the project should proceed, he proposed the development of a new platform with a more robust scripting language—a Turing-complete programming language[17]—that would eventually become Ethereum.[14]

Ethereum was announced at the North American Bitcoin Conference in Miami, in January 2014.[18] During the conference, Gavin Wood, Charles Hoskinson, and Anthony Di Iorio (who financed the project) rented a house in Miami with Buterin at which they could develop a fuller sense of what Ethereum might become.[18] Di Iorio invited friend Joseph Lubin, who invited reporter Morgen Peck, to bear witness.[18] Peck subsequently wrote about the experience in Wired.[19] Six months later the founders met again in Zug, Switzerland, where Buterin told the founders that the project would proceed as a non-profit. Hoskinson left the project at that time and soon after founded IOHK, a blockchain company responsible for Cardano.[18]

Ethereum has an unusually long list of founders.[20] Anthony Di Iorio wrote: "Ethereum was founded by Vitalik Buterin, Myself, Charles Hoskinson, Mihai Alisie & Amir Chetrit (the initial 5) in December 2013. Joseph Lubin, Gavin Wood, & Jeffrey Wilcke were added in early 2014 as founders." Buterin chose the name Ethereum after browsing a list of elements from science fiction on Wikipedia. He stated, "I immediately realized that I liked it better than all of the other alternatives that I had seen; I suppose it was that [it] sounded nice and it had the word 'ether', referring to the hypothetical invisible medium that permeates the universe and allows light to travel."[18] Buterin wanted his platform to be the underlying and imperceptible medium for the applications running on top of it.[21]

Development (2014)

Formal development of the software underlying Ethereum began in early 2014 through a Swiss company, Ethereum Switzerland GmbH (EthSuisse).[22]

The idea of putting executable smart contracts in the blockchain needed to be specified before it could be implemented in software. This work was done by Gavin Wood, then the chief technology officer, in the Ethereum Yellow Paper that specified the Ethereum Virtual Machine.[23][24] Subsequently, a Swiss non-profit foundation, the Ethereum Foundation (Stiftung Ethereum), was founded. Development was funded by an online public crowd sale from July to August 2014, in which participants bought the Ethereum value token (ether) with another digital currency, bitcoin. While there was early praise for the technical innovations of Ethereum, questions were also raised about its security and scalability.[12]

Launch and the DAO event (2014–2016)

Several codenamed prototypes of Ethereum were developed over 18 months in 2014 and 2015 by the Ethereum Foundation as part of their proof-of-concept series.[4] "Olympic" was the last prototype and public beta pre-release. The Olympic network gave users a bug bounty of 25,000 ether for stress-testing the Ethereum blockchain. On 30 July 2015, "Frontier" marked the official launch of the Ethereum platform, and Ethereum created its "genesis block".[4][25] The genesis block contained 8,893 transactions allocating various amounts of ether to different addresses, and a block reward of 5 ETH.[citation needed]

Since the initial launch, Ethereum has undergone a number of planned protocol upgrades, which are important changes affecting the underlying functionality and/or incentive structures of the platform.[26][27] Protocol upgrades are accomplished by means of a hard fork.[citation needed]

In 2016, a decentralized autonomous organization called The DAO—a set of smart contracts developed on the platform—raised a record US$150 million in a crowd sale to fund the project.[28] The DAO was exploited in June 2016 when US$50 million of DAO tokens were stolen by an unknown hacker.[29][30] The event sparked a debate in the crypto-community about whether Ethereum should perform a contentious "hard fork" to reappropriate the affected funds.[31] The fork resulted in the network splitting into two blockchains: Ethereum with the theft reversed, and Ethereum Classic which continued on the original chain.[32]

Continued development and milestones (2017–present)

In March 2017, various blockchain startups, research groups, and Fortune 500 companies announced the creation of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) with 30 founding members.[33] By May 2017, the nonprofit organization had 116 enterprise members, including ConsenSys, CME Group, Cornell University's research group, Toyota Research Institute, Samsung SDS, Microsoft, Intel, J. P. Morgan, Cooley LLP, Merck KGaA, DTCC, Deloitte, Accenture, Banco Santander, BNY Mellon, ING, and National Bank of Canada.[34][35] By July 2017, there were over 150 members in the alliance, including MasterCard, Cisco Systems, Sberbank, and Scotiabank.[36]

CryptoKitties and the ERC-721 NFT standard

In 2017, CryptoKitties, the blockchain game and decentralized application (dApp) featuring digital cat artwork as NFTs, was launched on the Ethereum network.[37] In cultivating popularity with users and collectors, it gained notable mainstream media attention providing significant exposure to Ethereum in the process.[38] It was considered the most popular smart contract in use on the network[39] but it also highlighted concerns over Ethereum's scalability due to the game's substantial consumption of network capacity at the time.[40]

In January 2018, a community-driven paper (an EIP, "Ethereum Improvement Proposal") under the leadership of civic hacker and lead author William Entriken was published, called ERC-721: Non-Fungible Token Standard.[41] It introduced ERC-721, the first official NFT standard on Ethereum.[42] This standardization was a milestone for Ethereum in pioneering the foundation of the multi-billion dollar digital collectibles eco-system.[43]

Continued developments

By January 2018, ether was the second-largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization, behind bitcoin.[44] As of 2021[update], it maintained that relative position.[2][3]

In 2019, Ethereum Foundation employee Virgil Griffith was arrested by the US government for presenting at a blockchain conference in North Korea.[45] He would later plead guilty to one count of conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act in 2021.[46]

In March 2021, Visa Inc. announced that it began settling stablecoin transactions using Ethereum.[47] In April 2021, JP Morgan Chase, UBS, and MasterCard announced that they were investing US$65 million into ConsenSys, a software development firm that builds Ethereum-related infrastructure.[48]

There were two network upgrades in 2021. The first was "Berlin", implemented on 14 April 2021.[49] The second was "London", which took effect on 5 August.[50] The London upgrade included Ethereum Improvement Proposal ("EIP") 1559, a mechanism for reducing transaction fee volatility. The mechanism causes a portion of the ether paid in transaction fees for each block to be destroyed rather than given to the block proposer, reducing the inflation rate of ether and potentially resulting in periods of deflation.[51]

On 27 August 2021, the blockchain experienced a brief fork that was the result of clients running different incompatible software versions.[52]

Ethereum 2.0

Ethereum enthusiasts gather for a Merge party in San Francisco in 2022.

Ethereum 2.0 (Eth2) was a set of three or more upgrades, also known as "phases", meant to transition the network's consensus mechanism to proof-of-stake, and to scale the network's transaction throughput with execution sharding and an improved EVM architecture.[53]

The switch from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake on 15 September 2022 has cut Ethereum's energy usage by 99%. However, the impact this has on global energy consumption and climate change may be limited since the computers previously used for mining ether may be used to mine other cryptocurrencies that are energy-intensive.[10]

Design

Ether

Ether (ETH) is the cryptocurrency generated in accordance with the Ethereum protocol as a reward to validators in a proof-of-stake system for adding blocks to the blockchain. Ether is represented in the state as an unsigned integer associated with each account, this being the account's ETH balance denominated in wei (1018 wei = 1 ether).[54] At the end of each epoch, new ETH is generated by the addition of protocol-specified amounts to the balances of all validators for that epoch, with the block proposers receiving the largest portion. Additionally, ether is the only currency accepted by the protocol as payment for the transaction fee. The transaction fee is composed of two parts: the base fee and the tip. The base fee is "burned" (deleted from existence) and the tip goes to the block proposer. The validator reward together with the tips provide the incentive to validators to keep the blockchain growing (i.e. to keep processing new transactions). Therefore, ETH is fundamental to the operation of the network. Ether may be "sent" from one account to another via a transaction, which simply entails subtracting the amount to be sent from the sender's balance and adding the same amount to the recipient's balance.[55]

Ether is often erroneously referred to as "Ethereum".[56]

Accounts

There are two types of accounts on Ethereum: user accounts (also known as externally-owned accounts), and contract accounts. Both types have an ETH balance, may transfer ETH to any account, may execute the code of another contract, or create a new contract, and are identified on the blockchain and in the state by an account address.[57]

Contracts are the only type of account that has associated bytecode and storage (to store contract specific state). The code of a contract is evaluated when a transaction is sent to it. The code of the contract may read user specified data from the transaction, and may have a return value. In addition to control flow statements, the bytecode may include instructions to send ETH, read from and write to the contract's storage, create temporary storage (memory) that vanishes at the end of code evaluation, perform arithmetic and hashing operations, send transactions to other contracts (thus executing their code), create new contracts, and query information about the current transaction or the blockchain.[58]

Addresses

Ethereum addresses are composed of the prefix "0x" (a common identifier for hexadecimal) concatenated with the rightmost 20 bytes of the Keccak-256 hash of the ECDSA public key (the curve used is the so-called secp256k1). In hexadecimal, two digits represent a byte, and so addresses contain 40 hexadecimal digits after the "0x", e.g. 0xb794f5ea0ba39494ce839613fffba74279579268. Contract addresses are in the same format, however, they are determined by sender and creation transaction nonce.[24]

Virtual machine

The number of daily confirmed Ethereum transactions as of February 2024

The Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) is the runtime environment for transaction execution in Ethereum. The EVM is a stack based virtual machine with an instruction set specifically designed for Ethereum. The instruction set includes, among other things, stack operations, memory operations, and operations to inspect the current execution context, such as remaining gas, information about the current block, and the current transaction. The EVM is designed to be deterministic on a wide variety of hardware and operating systems, so that given a pre-transaction state and a transaction, each node produces the same post-transaction state, thereby enabling network consensus. The formal definition of the EVM is specified in the Ethereum Yellow Paper.[24][59] EVMs have been implemented in C++, C#, Go, Haskell, Java, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, Rust, Elixir, Erlang, and soon[when?] WebAssembly.[citation needed]

Gas

Gas is a unit of account within the EVM used in the calculation of the transaction fee, which is the amount of ETH a transaction's sender must pay to the network to have the transaction included in the blockchain. Each type of operation which may be performed by the EVM is hardcoded with a certain gas cost, which is intended to be roughly proportional to the monetary value of the resources (e.g. computation and storage) a node must expend or dedicate to perform that operation.[citation needed]

When a sender is creating a transaction, the sender must specify a gas limit and gas price. The gas limit is the maximum amount of gas the sender is willing to use in the transaction, and the gas price is the amount of ETH the sender wishes to pay to the network per unit of gas used. A transaction may only be included in the blockchain at a block slot that has a base gas price less than or equal to the transaction's gas price. The portion of the gas price that is in excess of the base gas price is known as the tip and goes to the block proposer; the higher the tip, the more incentive a block proposer has to include the transaction in their block, and thus the quicker the transaction will be included in the blockchain. The sender buys the full amount of gas (i.e. their ETH balance is debited the amount: gas limit × gas price) up-front, at the start of the execution of the transaction, and is refunded at the end for any unused gas. If at any point the transaction does not have enough gas to perform the next operation, the transaction is reverted but the sender is still only refunded for the unused gas. In user interfaces, gas prices are typically denominated in gigawei (Gwei), a subunit of ETH equal to 10−9 ETH.[60]

Applications

The EVM's instruction set is Turing-complete.[24] Popular uses of Ethereum have included the creation of fungible (ERC-20) and non-fungible (ERC-721) tokens with a variety of properties, crowdfunding (e.g. initial coin offerings), decentralized finance, decentralized exchanges, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), games, prediction markets, and gambling.[citation needed]

Contract source code

Ethereum's smart contracts are written in high-level programming languages and then compiled down to EVM bytecode and deployed to the Ethereum blockchain. They can be written in Solidity (a language library with similarities to C and JavaScript), Serpent (similar to Python, but deprecated), Yul (an intermediate language that can compile to various different backends—EVM 1.0, EVM 1.5, and eWASM are planned), LLL (a low-level Lisp-like language), and Mutan (Go-based, but deprecated), and Vyper (a strongly-typed Python-derived decidable language[61]). Source code and compiler information are usually published along with the launch of the contract so that users can see the code and verify that it compiles to the bytecode that is on-chain.[citation needed]

One issue related to using smart contracts on a public blockchain is that bugs, including security holes, are visible to all but cannot be fixed quickly.[62] One example of this is the 2016 attack on The DAO, which could not be quickly stopped or reversed.[29]

ERC-20 tokens

The ERC-20 (Ethereum Request-for-Comments #20) Token Standard allows for fungible tokens on the Ethereum blockchain. The standard, proposed by Fabian Vogelsteller in November 2015, implements an API for tokens within smart contracts. The standard provides functions that include the transfer of tokens from one account to another, getting the current token balance of an account, and getting the total supply of the token available on the network. Smart contracts that correctly implement ERC-20 processes are called ERC-20 Token Contracts, and they keep track of created tokens on Ethereum. Numerous cryptocurrencies have launched as ERC-20 tokens and have been distributed through initial coin offerings.[63]

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs)

Main article: Non-fungible token

Ethereum also allows for the creation of unique and indivisible tokens, called non-fungible tokens (NFTs).[64] Since tokens of this type are unique, they have been used to represent such things as collectibles, digital art, sports memorabilia, virtual real estate, and items within games.[65] ERC-721 is the first official NFT standard for Ethereum and was followed up by ERC-1155 which introduced semi-fungibility, both are widely used,[66] though some fully fungible tokens using ERC-20 have been used for NFTs such as CryptoPunks.[67]

The first NFT project, Etheria, a 3D map of tradable and customizable hexagonal tiles, was deployed to the network in October 2015 and demonstrated live at DEVCON1 in November of that year.[68] In 2021, Christie's sold a digital image with an NFT by Beeple for US$69.3 million, making him the third-most-valuable living artist in terms of auction prices at the time, although observers have noted that both the buyer and seller had a vested interest in driving demand for the artist's work.[69][70]

Decentralized finance

The web interface to Compound Finance's decentralized application where users can lend and borrow cryptocurrencies for interest

Main article: Decentralized finance

Decentralized finance (DeFi) offers traditional financial instruments in a decentralized architecture, outside of companies' and governments' control, such as money market funds which let users earn interest.[71] DeFi applications are typically accessed through a Web3-enabled browser extension or application, such as MetaMask, which allows users to directly interact with the Ethereum blockchain through a website.[72] Many of these DApps can connect and work together to create complex financial services.[73]

Examples of DeFi platforms include MakerDAO and Compound.[74] Uniswap, a decentralized exchange for tokens on Ethereum grew from US$20 million in liquidity to US$2.9 billion in 2020.[75] As of October 2020, over US$11 billion was invested in various DeFi protocols.[76] Additionally, through a process called "wrapping", certain DeFi protocols allow synthetic versions of various assets (such as bitcoin, gold, and oil) to be tradeable on Ethereum and also compatible with all of Ethereum's major wallets and applications.[76]

Enterprise software

Ethereum-based software and networks, independent from the public Ethereum chain, are being tested by enterprise software companies.[77] Interested parties include Microsoft, IBM, JPMorgan Chase,[55] Deloitte, R3, and Innovate UK (cross-border payments prototype).[78] Barclays, UBS, Credit Suisse, Amazon, Visa, and other companies are also experimenting with Ethereum.[79][80]

Permissioned ledgers

Ethereum-based permissioned blockchain variants are used and being investigated for various projects:

In 2017, JPMorgan Chase proposed developing JPM Coin on a permissioned-variant of Ethereum blockchain dubbed "Quorum".[81] It is "designed to toe the line between private and public in the realm of shuffling derivatives and payments. The idea is to satisfy regulators who need seamless access to financial goings-on while protecting the privacy of parties that don't wish to reveal their identities nor the details of their transactions to the general public."[82]

Performance

As of January 2016[update], the Ethereum protocol could process about 25 transactions per second; this did not change after the move to proof-of-stake. In comparison, the Visa payment platform processes 45,000 payments per second. This has led some to question the scalability of Ethereum.[83]

A proposal to partition global state and computation into shard chains was presented at Ethereum's Devcon 3 in November 2017.[84] If implemented, each node in the network would only have to store and validate a subset of the network.

Ethereum's blockchain uses a Merkle-Patricia Tree to store account state in each block.[85] The trie allows for storage savings, set membership proofs (called "Merkle proofs"), and light client synchronization. The network has faced congestion problems, such as in 2017 in relation to CryptoKitties.[86]

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Table of Contents

What Is Ethereum?

Understanding Ethereum

How Does Ethereum Work?

Ethereum vs. Bitcoin

The Future of Ethereum

Ethereum FAQs

The Bottom Line

Cryptocurrency

Altcoins

What Is Ethereum and How Does It Work?

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What Is Ethereum?

Ethereum is a decentralized global software platform powered by blockchain technology. It is most commonly known for its native cryptocurrency, ether (ETH).

Key Takeaways

Ethereum is a blockchain-based platform best known for its cryptocurrency, ether (ETH).

The blockchain technology that powers Ethereum enables secure digital ledgers to be publicly created and maintained.

Bitcoin and Ethereum have many similarities but different long-term visions and limitations.

Ethereum changed from proof of work to proof of stake in Septemeber 2022.

Ethereum is the foundation for many emerging technological advances based on blockchain.

Ethereum founder Joe Lubin explains what it is & why it matters

Investopedia / Michela Buttignol

Understanding Ethereum

Ethereum can be used by anyone to create any secured digital technology. It has a token designed to pay for work done supporting the blockchain, but participants can also use it to pay for tangible goods and services if accepted.

Ethereum is designed to be scalable, programmable, secure, and decentralized. It is the blockchain of choice for developers and enterprises creating technology based upon it to change how many industries operate and how we go about our daily lives.

It natively supports smart contracts, an essential tool behind decentralized applications. Many decentralized finance (DeFi) and other applications use smart contracts in conjunction with blockchain technology.

Learn more about Ethereum, its token ETH, and how they are an integral part of non-fungible tokens, decentralized finance, decentralized autonomous organizations, and the metaverse.

How Does Ethereum Work?

Vitalik Buterin, credited with conceiving Ethereum, published a white paper to introduce it in 2014. The Ethereum platform was launched in 2015 by Buterin and Joe Lubin, founder of the blockchain software company ConsenSys.

The founders of Ethereum were among the first to consider the full potential of blockchain technology beyond just enabling the secure virtual payment method.

Since the launch of Ethereum, ether as a cryptocurrency has risen to become the second-largest cryptocurrency by market value. It is outranked only by Bitcoin.

Blockchain Technology

Ethereum and other Ethereum-based products, like other cryptocurrencies, involve blockchain technology. Imagine a very long chain of blocks. All of the information contained in each block is added to every newly created block with new data. Throughout the network, an identical copy of the blockchain is distributed.

This blockchain is validated by a network of automated programs that reach a consensus on the validity of transaction information. No changes can be made to the blockchain unless the network reaches a consensus. This makes it very secure.

Consensus is reached using an algorithm commonly called a consensus mechanism. Ethereum uses the proof-of-stake algorithm, where a network of participants called validators creates new blocks and works together to verify the information they contain. The blocks contain information about the state of the blockchain, a list of attestations (a validator's signature and vote on the validity of the block), transactions, and much more.

In mid-September 2022, Ethereum officially switched over to a proof-of-stake algorithm, which is cheaper and more environmentally friendly than a proof-of-work model.

Proof-of-Stake Mechanism

Proof-of-stake differs from proof-of-work in that it doesn't require the energy-intensive computing referred to as mining to validate blocks. It uses a finalization protocol called Casper-FFG and the algorithm LMD Ghost, combined into a consensus mechanism called Gasper, which monitors consensus and defines how validators receive rewards for work or are punished for dishonesty.

Solo validators must stake 32 ETH to activate their validation ability. Individuals can stake smaller amounts of ETH, but they are required to join a validation pool and share any rewards. A validator creates a new block and attests that the information is valid in a process called attestation, where the block is broadcast to other validators called a committee who verify it and vote for its validity.

Validators who act dishonestly are punished under proof-of-stake. Validators who attempt to attack the network are identified by Gasper, which identifies the blocks to accept and reject based on the votes of the validators.

Dishonest validators are punished by having their staked ETH burned and being removed from the network. Burning refers to sending crypto to a wallet that has no keys, which takes them out of circulation.

Wallets

Ethereum owners use wallets to store their ether. A wallet is a digital interface that lets you access your ether stored on the blockchain. Your wallet has an address, which is similar to an email address in that it is where users send ether, much like they would an email.

Ether is not actually stored in your wallet. Your wallet holds private keys you use as you would a password when you initiate a transaction. You receive a private key for each ether you own. This key is essential for accessing your ether. That's why you hear so much about securing keys using different storage methods.

Historic Split

One notable event in Ethereum’s history is the hard fork, or split, of Ethereum and Ethereum Classic. In 2016, a group of network participants gained majority control of the Ethereum blockchain to steal more than $50 million worth of ether, which had been raised for a project called The DAO.

The raid's success was attributed to the involvement of a third-party developer for the new project. Most of the Ethereum community opted to reverse the theft by invalidating the existing Ethereum blockchain and approving a blockchain with a revised history.

However, a fraction of the community chose to maintain the original version of the Ethereum blockchain. That unaltered version of Ethereum permanently split to become the cryptocurrency Ethereum Classic (ETC).

Ethereum vs. Bitcoin

Ethereum is often compared to Bitcoin. While the two cryptocurrencies have many similarities, there are some some important distinctions.

Ethereum is described by founders and developers as “the world’s programmable blockchain,” positioning itself as an electronic, programmable network with many applications. The Bitcoin blockchain, by contrast, was created only to support the bitcoin cryptocurrency.

The Ethereum platform was founded with broad ambitions to leverage blockchain technology for many diverse applications. Bitcoin was designed strictly as a payment method.

The maximum number of bitcoins that can enter circulation is 21 million. The amount of ETH that can be created is unlimited, although the time it takes to process a block of ETH limits how much ether can be minted each year. The number of Ethereum coins in circulation as of March 2024 is just over 120 million.

Another significant difference between Ethereum and Bitcoin is how the respective networks treat transaction processing fees. These fees, known as gas on the Ethereum network, are paid by the participants in Ethereum transactions. The fees associated with Bitcoin transactions are absorbed by the broader Bitcoin network.

Ethereum, as of March 2024, uses a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism. Bitcoin uses the energy-intensive proof-of-work consensus, which requires miners to compete for rewards. The consensus mechanism for Ethereum used to be proof-of-work, but this changed in 2022.

The Future of Ethereum

Ethereum’s transition to the proof-of-stake protocol, which enables users to validate transactions and mint new ETH based on their ether holdings, was part of a significant upgrade to the Ethereum platform. Previously called Eth2, this upgrade is now referred to only as Ethereum. However, Ethereum now has two layers. The first layer is the execution layer, where transactions and validations occur. The second layer is the consensus layer, where attestations and the consensus chain is maintained.

The upgrade added capacity to the Ethereum network to support its growth, which will eventually help to address chronic network congestion problems that have driven up gas fees.

To address scalability, Ethereum is continuing development of "sharding." Sharding will divide the Ethereum database amongst its network. This idea is similar to cloud computing, where many computers handle the workload to reduce computational time. These smaller database sections will be called shards, and shards will be worked on by those who have staked ETH. Shards will allow more validators to work at the same time, reducing the amount of time needed to reach consensus through a process called sharding consensus.

Last, Ethereum publishes a roadmap for future plans. As of March 2024, there were four primary categories listed for future work to come on the network. Those changes would push for:

Cheaper transactions. Ethereum notes that rollups are too expensive and force users to place too much trust in their operators.Extra security. Ethereum notes it wants to be prepared for future types of attacks. Better user experiences. Ethereum notes wanting better support for smart contracts and light-weight nodes.Future proofing. Ethereum notes wanting to proactively solve problems that have yet to really come up yet.

Web3

Web3 is still a concept, but it is generally theorized that it will be powered by Ethereum because many of the applications being developed use it.

Use in Gaming

Ethereum is also being implemented into gaming and virtual reality. Decentraland is a virtual world that uses the Ethereum blockchain to secure items contained within that world. Land, avatars, wearables, buildings, and environments are all tokenized through the blockchain to create ownership.

Axie Infinity is another game that uses blockchain technology and has its own cryptocurrency called Smooth Love Potion (SLP), used for rewards and transactions within the game.

Non-Fungible Tokens

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) gained popularity in 2021. NFTs are tokenized digital items created using Ethereum. Generally speaking, tokenization gives one digital asset a specific digital token that identifies it and stores it on the blockchain.

This establishes ownership because the encrypted data stores the owner's wallet address. The NFT can be traded or sold and is viewed as a transaction on the blockchain. The transaction is verified by the network and ownership is transferred.

NFTs are being developed for all sorts of assets. For example, sports fans can buy a sports token—also called fan tokens—of their favorite athletes, which can be treated like trading cards. Some of these NFTs are pictures that resemble a trading card, and some of them are videos of a memorable or historic moment in the athlete's career.

The applications you may use in the metaverse, such as your wallet, a dApp, or the virtual world and buildings you visit, are likely to have been built on Ethereum.

The Development of DAOs

Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), which are a collaborative method for making decisions across a distributed network, are being developed.

For example, imagine that you created a venture capital fund and raised money through fund-raising, but you want decision-making to be decentralized and distributions to be automatic and transparent.

A DAO could use smart contracts and applications to gather the votes from the fund members and buy into ventures based on the majority of the group's votes, then automatically distribute any returns. The transactions could be viewed by all parties, and there would be no third-party involvement in handling any funds.

The part that cryptocurrency will play in the future is still vague. However, Ethereum appears to have a significant, upcoming role in personal and corporate finance and many aspects of our modern lives.

How Can I Buy Ethereum?

Investors can use one of the best cryptocurrency exchange platforms to buy and sell ether. Ethereum is supported by dedicated crypto exchanges, including Coinbase, Kraken, Gemini, Binance, and brokerages like Robinhood.

How Does Ethereum Make Money?

Ethereum is not a centralized organization that makes money. Validators who participate in the Ethereum network earn ETH rewards for their contributions.

Is Ethereum a Good Investment?

As with any investment, the answer to that depends on your financial objectives, goals, and risk tolerance. The cryptocurrency ETH can be volatile, putting capital at risk. However, it is certainly worth researching as an investment because the various existing and emerging innovative technologies that use Ethereum may assume larger roles in our society in the future. Consider taking a cryptocurrency trading course to help you set up the right investment strategies.

Is Ethereum a Cryptocurrency?

The Ethereum platform has a native cryptocurrency, known as ether, or ETH. Ethereum itself is a blockchain technology platform that supports a wide range of decentralized applications (dApps), including cryptocurrencies. The ETH coin is commonly called Ethereum, although the distinction remains that Ethereum is a blockchain-powered platform, and ether is its cryptocurrency.

Can Ethereum Be Converted to Cash?

Yes. Investors who hold the cryptocurrency ETH can use online exchanges such as Coinbase, Kraken, and Gemini for this process. Just set up an account at the exchange, link a bank account, and send ETH to the exchange account from an Ethereum wallet. Place an order on the exchange to sell ETH. Then, once sold, transfer the U.S. dollar proceeds to the linked bank account.

The Bottom Line

Ethereum is a decentralized blockchain platform. It enables developers to build and deploy smart contracts. Ethereum utilizes its native cryptocurrency, Ether (ETH), for transactions and incentivizing network participants to secure the network through a proof of stake (PoS) consensus mechanism.

Investing in cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings (ICOs) is highly risky and speculative, and this article is not a recommendation by Investopedia or the writer to invest in cryptocurrencies or ICOs. Since each individual’s situation is unique, a qualified professional should always be consulted before making any financial decisions. Investopedia makes no representations or warranties as to the accuracy or timeliness of the information contained herein.

Article Sources

Investopedia requires writers to use primary sources to support their work. These include white papers, government data, original reporting, and interviews with industry experts. We also reference original research from other reputable publishers where appropriate. You can learn more about the standards we follow in producing accurate, unbiased content in our

editorial policy.

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Ethereum. "Introduction to Smart Contracts."

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Intro to Ethereum | ethereum.org

o to Ethereum | ethereum.orgSkip to main contentLearnUseBuildParticipateResearchSearchLanguages ENHelp update this pageThere’s a new version of this page but it’s only in English right now. Help us translate the latest version.Translate pageNo bugs here!This page is not being translated. We've intentionally left this page in English for now.Don't show againChange pageOverviewFoundational topicsIntro to EthereumIntro to EtherIntro to dappsWeb2 vs Web3AccountsTransactionsBlocksEthereum virtual machine (EVM)OpcodesGasNodes and clientsRun a nodeClient diversityNodes as a serviceNode architectureLight clientsArchive nodesBootnodesNetworksConsensus mechanismsProof-of-workMiningMining algorithmsDagger-HashimotoEthashProof-of-stakeGasperWeak subjectivityAttestationsPoS rewards and penaltiesPoS attack and defenseKeysProof-of-stake versus proof-of-workBlock proposalProof-of-stake FAQsEthereum stackIntro to the stackSmart contractsSmart contract languagesSmart contract anatomySmart contracts librariesTesting smart contractsCompiling smart contractsDeploying smart contractsVerifying smart contractsUpgrading smart contractsSmart contract securitySmart contract formal verificationComposabilityDevelopment networksDevelopment frameworksEthereum client APIsJavaScript APIsBackend APIsJSON-RPCData and analyticsBlock explorersStorageIntegrated Development Environments (IDEs)Programming languagesDartDelphi.NETGolangJavaJavaScriptPythonRubyRustAdvancedBridgesStandardsToken standardsERC-20: Fungible TokensERC-721: NFTsERC-777ERC-1155ERC-4626Maximal extractable value (MEV)OraclesScalingOptimistic rollupsZero-knowledge rollupsState channelsSidechainsPlasmaValidiumData availabilityNetworking layerNetwork addressesPortal NetworkData structures and encodingPatricia Merkle TrieRecursive-length prefix (RLP)Simple serialize (SSZ)Web3 secret storage definitionDesign fundamentalsIntro to design and UXIntro to EthereumLast edit: , August 15, 2023See contributorsOn this pageWhat is a blockchain?What is Ethereum?What is ether?What are smart contracts?TerminologyBlockchainETHEVMNodesAccountsTransactionsBlocksSmart contractsFurther readingRelated tutorialsWhat is a blockchain?A blockchain is a public database that is updated and shared across many computers in a network."Block" refers to data and state being stored in consecutive groups known as "blocks". If you send ETH to someone else, the transaction data needs to be added to a block to be successful."Chain" refers to the fact that each block cryptographically references its parent. In other words, blocks get chained together. The data in a block cannot change without changing all subsequent blocks, which would require the consensus of the entire network.Every computer in the network must agree upon each new block and the chain as a whole. These computers are known as "nodes". Nodes ensure everyone interacting with the blockchain has the same data. To accomplish this distributed agreement, blockchains need a consensus mechanism.Ethereum uses a proof-of-stake-based consensus mechanism. Anyone who wants to add new blocks to the chain must stake ETH - the native currency in Ethereum - as collateral and run validator software. These "validators" can then be randomly selected to propose blocks that other validators check and add to the blockchain. There is a system of rewards and penalties that strongly incentivize participants to be honest and available online as much as possible.If you would like to see how blockchain data is hashed and subsequently appended to the history of block references, be sure to check out this demo(opens in a new tab) by Anders Brownworth and watch the accompanying video below.Watch Anders explain hashes in blockchains:What is Ethereum?Ethereum is a blockchain with a computer embedded in it. It is the foundation for building apps and organizations in a decentralized, permissionless, censorship-resistant way.In the Ethereum universe, there is a single, canonical computer (called the Ethereum Virtual Machine, or EVM) whose state everyone on the Ethereum network agrees on. Everyone who participates in the Ethereum network (every Ethereum node) keeps a copy of the state of this computer. Additionally, any participant can broadcast a request for this computer to perform arbitrary computation. Whenever such a request is broadcast, other participants on the network verify, validate, and carry out ("execute") the computation. This execution causes a state change in the EVM, which is committed and propagated throughout the entire network.Requests for computation are called transaction requests; the record of all transactions and the EVM's present state gets stored on the blockchain, which in turn is stored and agreed upon by all nodes.Cryptographic mechanisms ensure that once transactions are verified as valid and added to the blockchain, they can't be tampered with later. The same mechanisms also ensure that all transactions are signed and executed with appropriate "permissions" (no one should be able to send digital assets from Alice's account, except for Alice herself).What is ether?Ether (ETH) is the native cryptocurrency of Ethereum. The purpose of ETH is to allow for a market for computation. Such a market provides an economic incentive for participants to verify and execute transaction requests and provide computational resources to the network.Any participant who broadcasts a transaction request must also offer some amount of ETH to the network as a bounty. The network will award this bounty to whoever eventually does the work of verifying the transaction, executing it, committing it to the blockchain, and broadcasting it to the network.The amount of ETH paid corresponds to the resources required to do the computation. These bounties also prevent malicious participants from intentionally clogging the network by requesting the execution of infinite computation or other resource-intensive scripts, as these participants must pay for computation resources.ETH is also used to provide crypto-economic security to the network in three main ways: 1) it is used as a means to reward validators who propose blocks or call out dishonest behavior by other validators; 2) It is staked by validators, acting as collateral against dishonest behavior—if validators attempt to misbehave their ETH can be destroyed; 3) it is used to weigh 'votes' for newly proposed blocks, feeding into the fork-choice part of the consensus mechanism.What are smart contracts?In practice, participants don't write new code every time they want to request a computation on the EVM. Rather, application developers upload programs (reusable snippets of code) into EVM state, and users make requests to execute these code snippets with varying parameters. We call the programs uploaded to and executed by the network smart contracts.At a very basic level, you can think of a smart contract like a sort of vending machine: a script that, when called with certain parameters, performs some actions or computation if certain conditions are satisfied. For example, a simple vendor smart contract could create and assign ownership of a digital asset if the caller sends ETH to a specific recipient.Any developer can create a smart contract and make it public to the network, using the blockchain as its data layer, for a fee paid to the network. Any user can then call the smart contract to execute its code, again for a fee paid to the network.Thus, with smart contracts, developers can build and deploy arbitrarily complex user-facing apps and services such as: marketplaces, financial instruments, games, etc.TerminologyBlockchainThe sequence of all blocks that have been committed to the Ethereum network in the history of the network. So named because each block contains a reference to the previous block, which helps us maintain an ordering over all blocks (and thus over the precise history).ETHEther (ETH) is the native cryptocurrency of Ethereum. Users pay ETH to other users to have their code execution requests fulfilled.More on ETHEVMThe Ethereum Virtual Machine is the global virtual computer whose state every participant on the Ethereum network stores and agrees on. Any participant can request the execution of arbitrary code on the EVM; code execution changes the state of the EVM.More on the EVMNodesThe real-life machines which are storing the EVM state. Nodes communicate with each other to propagate information about the EVM state and new state changes. Any user can also request the execution of code by broadcasting a code execution request from a node. The Ethereum network itself is the aggregate of all Ethereum nodes and their communications.More on nodesAccountsWhere ETH is stored. Users can initialize accounts, deposit ETH into the accounts, and transfer ETH from their accounts to other users. Accounts and account balances are stored in a big table in the EVM; they are a part of the overall EVM state.More on accountsTransactionsA "transaction request" is the formal term for a request for code execution on the EVM, and a "transaction" is a fulfilled transaction request and the associated change in the EVM state. Any user can broadcast a transaction request to the network from a node. For the transaction request to affect the agreed-upon EVM state, it must be validated, executed, and "committed to the network" by another node. Execution of any code causes a state change in the EVM; upon commitment, this state change is broadcast to all nodes in the network. Some examples of transactions:Send X ETH from my account to Alice's account.Publish some smart contract code into EVM state.Execute the code of the smart contract at address X in the EVM, with arguments Y.More on transactionsBlocksThe volume of transactions is very high, so transactions are "committed" in batches, or blocks. Blocks generally contain dozens to hundreds of transactions.More on blocksSmart contractsA reusable snippet of code (a program) which a developer publishes into EVM state. Anyone can request that the smart contract code be executed by making a transaction request. Because developers can write arbitrary executable applications into the EVM (games, marketplaces, financial instruments, etc.) by publishing smart contracts, these are often also called dapps, or Decentralized Apps.More on smart contractsFurther readingEthereum WhitepaperHow does Ethereum work, anyway?(opens in a new tab) - Preethi Kasireddy (NB this resource is still valuable but be aware that it predates The Merge and therefore still refers to Ethereum's proof-of-work mechanism - Ethereum is actually now secured using proof-of-stake)Know of a community resource that helped you? Edit this page and add it!Related tutorialsA developer's guide to Ethereum, part 1 – A very beginner-friendly exploration of Ethereum using Python and web3.pyback-to-top ↑Was this article helpful?YesNoPreviousOverviewNextIntro to EtherEdit page(opens in a new tab)On this pageWhat is a blockchain?What is Ethereum?What is ether?What are smart contracts?TerminologyBlockchainETHEVMNodesAccountsTransactionsBlocksSmart contractsFurther readingRelated tutorialsWebsite last updated: February 16, 2024(opens in a new tab)(opens in a new tab)(opens in a new tab)Use EthereumFind walletGet ETHDapps - Decentralized applicationsLayer 2Run a nodeStablecoinsStake ETHLearnLearn HubWhat is Ethereum?What is ether (ETH)?Ethereum walletsGas feesEthereum security and scam preventionWhat is Web3?Smart contractsEthereum energy consumptionEthereum roadmapEthereum Improvement ProposalsHistory of EthereumEthereum WhitepaperEthereum glossaryEthereum governanceBlockchain bridgesZero-knowledge proofsQuiz HubDevelopersGet startedDocumentationTutorialsLearn by codingSet up local environmentEcosystemCommunity hubEthereum FoundationEthereum Foundation Blog(opens in a new tab)Ecosystem Support Program(opens in a new tab)Ethereum bug bounty programEcosystem Grant ProgramsEthereum brand assetsDevcon(opens in a new tab)EnterpriseMainnet EthereumPrivate EthereumEnterpriseAbout ethereum.orgAbout usJobsContributingLanguage supportPrivacy policyTerms of useCookie policyPress Contact(opens in a new t

What is Ethereum? - Ethereum Explained - AWS

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What is Ethereum?

Ethereum is a decentralized blockchain platform that establishes a peer-to-peer network that securely executes and verifies application code, called smart contracts. Smart contracts allow participants to transact with each other without a trusted central authority. Transaction records are immutable, verifiable, and securely distributed across the network, giving participants full ownership and visibility into transaction data. Transactions are sent from and received by user-created Ethereum accounts. A sender must sign transactions and spend Ether, Ethereum's native cryptocurrency, as a cost of processing transactions on the network.

The Merge

On September 15th, 2022 06:42:42 UTC, at block 15537393, The Merge was completed, moving Ethereum from Proof of Work (PoW) to Proof of Stake (PoS). Amazon Managed Blockchain's Ethereum Mainnet nodes run on the Ethereum PoS network.

The Merge upgrades Ethereum's consensus from PoW to PoS by merging Ethereum Mainnet with the Beacon Chain Proof of Stake system. This upgrade improved the sustainability of Ethereum by lowering energy consumption and was part of Ethereum foundation's ongoing upgrades to improve scalability, security, and sustainability as described here.

Benefits of building on Ethereum

Ethereum offers an extremely flexible platform on which to build decentralized applications using the native Solidity scripting language and Ethereum Virtual Machine. Decentralized application developers who deploy smart contracts on Ethereum benefit from the rich ecosystem of developer tooling and established best practices that have come with the maturity of the protocol. This maturity also extends into the quality of user-experience for the average user of Ethereum applications, with wallets like MetaMask, Argent, Rainbow and more offering simple interfaces through which to interact with the Ethereum blockchain and smart contracts deployed there. Ethereum’s large user base encourages developers to deploy their applications on the network, which further reinforces Ethereum as the primary home for decentralized applications like DeFi and NFTs. In the future, the backwards-compatible Ethereum 2.0 protocol, currently under development, will provide a more scalable network on which to build decentralized applications that require higher transaction throughput.

How building on Ethereum compares to Hyperledger Fabric

Ethereum

Hyperledger Fabric

Public vs. Private

Public

Private

Permissions

Permissionless

Permissioned

Governance

Decentralized

Federated

Consenus Mechanism

Proof-of-Work

Pluggable BFT

Smart Contract Languages

Solidity, Vyper

Go, Java, Javascript (Node.js)

Private Transactions

Yes

Ideal Use Cases

Tokenization (stablecoins, NFTs), DeFi, public transaction settlement

B2B data exchange, transaction settlement, and non-repudiation

Use cases

Decentralized Finance (DeFi)

DeFi is a network of financial applications built on top of blockchain networks. It is different from existing financial networks because it is open and programmable, operates without a central authority, and enables developers to offer new models for payments, investing, lending, and trading. By using smart contracts and distributed systems, customers can easily build secure decentralized financial applications. For example, DeFi companies are already offering products that enable peer-to-peer lending and borrowing, earning interest on cryptocurrency holdings, trading via decentralized exchanges, and much more. Some popular DeFi platforms include Compound, Aave, UniSwap, and MakerDAO.

Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)

NFTs are unique and indivisible digital tokens that are useful for proving the provenance of rare assets, both digital and tangible. For example, NFTs can be used by an artist to tokenize their work and ensure that their work is unique and belongs to them. The ownership information is recorded and maintained on the blockchain network. NFTs are also gaining popularity in the gaming industry because they allow interoperability between gaming platforms. For instance, the first NFT project on Ethereum was CryptoKitties, which enabled customers to collect digital cat collectibles backed using NFTs. Gods Unchained is a card game that gives players full ownership of their in-game items using NFTs. NFTs are gaining popularity as more companies look to tokenize assets and provide users with tamper-proof lineage information about their assets.

FAQs

What is an Ethereum smart contract?

A smart contract is application code that resides at a specific address on the blockchain known as a contract address. Applications can call the smart contract functions, change their state, and initiate transactions. Smart contracts are written in programming languages such as Solidity and Vyper, and are compiled by the Ethereum Virtual Machine into bytecode and executed on the blockchain.

What is an Ethereum account?

There are two types of accounts in Ethereum: Externally Owned Accounts (EOA) and Contract Accounts. An EOA is controlled by a private key, has no associated code, and can send transactions. A contract account has an associated code that executes when it receives a transaction from an EOA. A contract account cannot initiate transactions on its own. Transactions must always originate from an EOA.

What is an Ethereum transaction?

A transaction in Ethereum is a signed data message sent from one Ethereum account to another. It contains the transaction sender and recipient information, the option to include the amount of Ether to be transferred, the smart contract bytecode, and the transaction fee the sender is willing to pay to the network validators to have the transaction included in the blockchain, known as gas price and limit.

How can I pay for transactions on Ethereum?

You can pay for transactions using Ether. Ether serves two purposes. First, it prevents bad actors from congesting the network with unnecessary transactions. Second, it acts as an incentive for users to contribute resources and validate transactions (mining). Each transaction in Ethereum constitutes a series of operations to occur on the network (i.e. a transfer of Ether from one account to another or a complex state-changing operation in a smart contract). Each of these operations have a cost, which is measured in gas, the fee-measure in Ethereum. Gas fees are are paid in Ether, and are often measured in a smaller denomination called gwei. [1 ether = 1,000,000,000 gwei (10^9)]

Where can I get Ether, and where do I store it?

You can buy Ether with fiat currency from a cryptocurrency exchange like Coinbase or Kraken. Ether is associated with your Ethereum account. To access your account and Ether, you must have your account address and the passphrase or the private key.

How does Ethereum work for applications?

When a transaction triggers a smart contract, all nodes of the network execute every instruction. To do this, Ethereum implements an execution environment on the blockchain called the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). All nodes on the network run the EVM as part of the block verification protocol. In block verification, each node goes through the transactions listed in the block they are verifying and runs the code as triggered by the transactions in the EVM. All nodes on the network do the same calculations to keep their ledgers in sync. Every transaction must include a gas limit and a fee that the sender is willing to pay for the transaction. Miners have the choice of including the transaction and collecting the fee or not. If the total amount of gas needed to process the transaction is less than or equal to the gas limit, the transaction is processed. If the gas expended reaches the gas limit before the transaction is completed, the transaction does not go through and the fee is still lost. All gas not used by transaction execution is reimbursed to the sender as Ether. This means that it's safe to send transactions with a gas limit above the estimates.

What does signing a transaction mean?

Signing a transaction generates a signature on a transaction using the private key of the transaction sender's account. Transactions need to be signed before they are submitted to the network.

How can I deploy a smart contract on Ethereum?

Transactions can also be used to publish smart contract code to the Ethereum blockchain. You can follow the transaction status with the method eth_getTransactionReceipt, which will also return the newly created smart contract address once it’s included on the blockchain. The resulting smart contract address cannot be chosen, as they are calculated using a hash function and can’t be easily predicted.

What is a hard fork in Ethereum?

A hard fork is a change to the underlying Ethereum protocol, creating new rules to improve the protocol that are not backwards compatible. All Ethereum clients need to upgrade; otherwise, they will be stuck on an incompatible chain following the old rules.

If you are interested in building applications on Ethereum, please visit our documentation page. To talk to the Amazon Managed Blockchain team, please visit our contact us page.

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Like other cryptocurrencies, Ethereum can be used for sending and receiving value globally and without a third party watching or stepping in unexpectedly.Value exchange is the main use case of the Ethereum blockchain today, often via the blockchain’s native token, ether. But many of the developers are working on the cryptocurrency because of its long-term potential and the ambitious vision of its developers to use Ethereum to give users more control of their finances and online data. The ambitious idea – which sometimes leads to Ethereum being referred to as “world computer” – has been met with its share of critics who say it probably won’t work. But if this experiment rolls out as planned, it would spawn apps very different from Facebook and Google, which users knowingly or unknowingly trust with their data.Ethereum enthusiasts aim to hand control back to users with the help of a blockchain, a technology that decentralizes data so that thousands of people around the world are handed a copy. Developers can use Ethereum to build leaderless applications, which means that a user’s data cannot be tampered with by the service’s creators.Ethereum was first proposed in 2013 by developer Vitalik Buterin, who was 19 at the time, and was one of the pioneers of the idea of expanding the technology behind Bitcoin, blockchain, to more use cases than transactions.While Bitcoin was created with the goal of disrupting online banking and day-to-day transactions, Ethereum’s creators aim to use the same technology to replace internet third parties – those that store data, transfer mortgages and keep track of complex financial instruments. These apps aid people in innumerable ways, such as paving a way to share vacation photos with friends on social media. But they have been accused of abusing this control by censoring data or accidentally spilling sensitive user data in hacks, to name a couple of examples.The platform officially launched in 2015, turning the idea of Ethereum into a real, functioning network.Ethereum and a decentralized internetBefore you can understand Ethereum, it helps to first understand intermediaries.Today intermediaries are everywherehttps://imgflip.com/i/4e5oef. Behind the scenes, they help us accomplish all sorts of digital tasks. Gmail for instance helps us send emails. Venmo helps us send $10 to a friend.This means that our personal data, financial information, and so forth are all largely stored on other people’s computers – in clouds and servers owned by companies like Facebook, Google or PayPal. Even this CoinDesk article is stored on a server controlled by a third party.This structure can be problematic, according to decentralization advocates. It means less direct control for users, and it also opens up opportunities for censorship, where the intermediary can step in and prevent a user from any action, whether buy a certain stock or post a certain message on social media, or block them altogether.The idea of Ethereum is to change how apps on the internet work today, awarding users more control by replacing intermediaries with smart contracts that execute rules automatically.Many, including inventors of the internet, believe the internet was always meant to be decentralized, and a splintered movement has sprung up around using new tools to help achieve this goal. Ethereum is one of the technologies to join this movement.Ethereum FAQHow is Ethereum different from Bitcoin?Ethereum draws inspiration from Bitcoin. They are both cryptocurrencies. Ethereum uses the same technology behind Bitcoin, a blockchain, which uses a shared, decentralized public ledger to decentralize the network so it’s not under the control of just one entity.But while Bitcoin is used primarily as a store of value, the idea behind Ethereum is to decentralize other kinds of applications and services, from social media networks to more complex financial agreements.Why is Ethereum sometimes called a ‘world computer?’Many advocates see Ethereum as a “world computer” that could decentralize the internet.With Ethereum, centralized servers are replaced by thousands of so-called “nodes” run by volunteers all over the world thus forming a “world computer.” The hope is that one day, anyone in the world will be able to use it.How does an Ethereum app work?Scrolling through a typical app store you’ll see a variety of colorful squares representing everything from banking to fitness to messaging apps. The long-term vision of the Ethereum community is to make apps that look just like these, but that work differently under the hood.In short, the goal is for Ethereum apps to return control of the data in these types of services to its owner.The apps built on Ethereum that offer this functionality are known as decentralized apps. Users need ether, Ethereum’s native token, to use them.What are the next steps for Ethereum?A huge upgrade to the Ethereum known as "the Merge" was officially completed on Sept. 15, 2022, moving the blockchain from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake for its consensus mechanism. The project took years to accomplish and reduced Ethereum's energy consumption by over 99%.This isn't the end of the journey however. Ethereum's relatively high fees and slow speeds, are the next challenges for the blockchain to address. Neither of these issues were addressed by the update and remain a blocker to expanded adoption.Read More: The Ethereum Merge Is Done, Opening a New Era for the Second-Biggest BlockchainThis article was originally published on Sep 22, 2022 at 4:43 p.m. UTCDisclosurePlease note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information has been updated.CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. In November 2023, CoinDesk was acquired by the Bullish group, owner of Bullish, a regulated, digital assets exchange. The Bullish group is majority-owned by Block.one; both companies have interests in a variety of blockchain and digital asset businesses and significant holdings of digital assets, including bitcoin. CoinDesk operates as an independent subsidiary with an editorial committee to protect journalistic independence. CoinDesk offers all employees above a certain salary threshold, including journalists, stock options in the Bullish group as part of their compensation.Alyssa HertigAlyssa Hertig is a programmer and journalist specializing in Bitcoin and the Lightning Network. She's currently writing a book exploring the ins and outs of Bitcoin governance. Alyssa owns some BTC.Follow @@mehmehturtle on TwitterLearn more about Consensus 2024, CoinDesk's longest-running and most influential event that brings together all sides of crypto, blockchain and Web3. Head to consensus.coindesk.com to register and buy your pass now.AboutAboutMastheadCareersCoinDesk NewsStay UpdatedConsensusCoinDesk StudiosNewslettersFollowGet In TouchContact UsAdvertiseAccessibility HelpSitemapThe Fine PrintEthics PolicyPrivacyTerms of UseUpdate My Cookie ConsentDo Not Sell My Personal InformationPlease note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information has been updated.CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. In November 2023, CoinDesk was acquired by the Bullish group, owner of Bullish, a regulated, digital assets exchange. The Bullish group is majority-owned by Block.one; both companies have interests in a variety of blockchain and digital asset businesses and significant holdings of digital assets, including bitcoin. CoinDesk operates as an independent subsidiary with an editorial committee to protect journalistic independence. CoinDesk offers all employees above a certain salary threshold, including journalists, stock options in the Bullish group as part of their compensation.©2024 CoinDeskEnglishX iconFacebook iconLinkedin iconRSS L

Ethereum Basics | Blockchain Wallet

reum Basics | Blockchain WalletWalletExchangeExplorerPayInstitutionalProductsWalletExchangeExplorerPayInstitutionalEarnCardLearnPricesChartsNFTResourcesAPIsStatusOpen SourceResearchLegal & PrivacySupportBlogSecurityPodcastCompanyAboutCareersPress CenterPrimeVenturesLog InSign UpOpen MenuOpen MenuLearning PortalBitcoin 101Ether 101DeFi 101Get BitcoinGet EtherWallet 101Stay SecureTechnical DetailsResearchEthereum For BeginnersEthereum is a distributed public block chain network that focuses on running programming code of any decentralized application. More simply, it is a platform for sharing information across the globe that cannot be manipulated or changed.Ether is a decentralized digital currency, also known as ETH. In addition to being a tradeable cryptocurrency, ether powers the Ethereum network by paying for transaction fees and computational services. Ether is paving the way for a more intelligent financial platform.Frequently Asked QuestionsHow much is it worth?How much is it worth?Like all assets, the market value for a single ether is determined by supply and demand. The current price is 0Why should I use it?Why should I use it?As the Ethereum platform grows, it will change the way we do business and transact on a daily basis. We want to give you the opportunity to start using ether now, so you’ll be ready for what the future brings.How do transaction fees work?How do transaction fees work?When you send ether or do anything else on the Ethereum block chain, you must pay miners for the computation of that transaction. In your Blockchain wallet, we’ll set this as a fixed fee for you.How is it different from bitcoin?How is it different from bitcoin?Ethereum expands on Bitcoin by harnessing block chain capability for computer code. Ethereum has a wide range of potential applications such as voting, global supply chains, medical records, and the financial system.Get the world’s most popular digital currency walletSign up TodayTwitterInstagramMediumProductsWalletExchangeExplorerPayInstitutionalEarnCardLearnPricesChartsNFTResourcesAPIsStatusOpen SourceResearchLegal & PrivacyWallet SupportExchange SupportBlogSecurityPodcastCompanyAboutCareersHiringPress CenterPrimeVenturesEnglishEspañolPortuguêsРусскийTürkçeBlockchain.comBlockchain.com, Inc. NMLS ID# 2024031 | NMLS Consumer Acc

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