🚀 Crypto Encyclopedia

Ethereum (ETH)

Ethereum – The World Computer

Ethereum is a decentralized, open-source blockchain with smart contract functionality. Launched in 2015 by Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum is the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap.

💡 Key Fact: Ethereum introduced smart contracts – self-executing contracts with the terms directly written into code.

Current Price
$3,500+ USD
Market Cap: $420+ Billion

Ethereum vs Bitcoin

Feature	Bitcoin	Ethereum
Purpose	Digital Currency	Smart Contract Platform
Consensus	Proof-of-Work	Proof-of-Stake
Supply	21 Million	Infinite
Block Time	10 Minutes	12 Seconds

The Merge (2022)

Ethereum transitioned from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake in September 2022 – an event called "The Merge." This reduced Ethereum's energy consumption by 99.95%.

Ethereum Ecosystem

Smart Contracts: Self-executing code on the blockchain
DApps: Decentralized applications
DeFi: Decentralized Finance protocols
NFTs: ERC-721 and ERC-1155 tokens
Layer 2: Arbitrum, Optimism, Base

Ethereum Upgrades

Frontier (2015): Initial launch
Homestead (2016): First upgrade
Byzantium (2017): Improved privacy
London (2021): EIP-1559 – burn mechanism
Shanghai (2023): Staking withdrawals enabled
Dencun (2024): Proto-Danksharding (blobs)

"Ethereum is the world's programmable blockchain." – Vitalik Buterin Ethereum Co-Founder