Ethereum (ETH)

Ethereum (ETH) is the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap. Launched in 2015 by Vitalik Buterin, it introduced smart contracts and powers a massive ecosystem of DeFi, NFTs, DAOs, and RWAs. After switching to energy-efficient proof-of-stake in 2022, Ethereum has become a secure, programmable backbone for Web3, supported by a thriving Layer-2 rollup ecosystem that delivers low fees and high throughput. Ongoing upgrades focus on parallel execution, higher gas limits, Verkle Trees, and proposer-builder separation to boost scalability toward tens of thousands of TPS while preserving decentralization. As a leading blue-chip asset with strong institutional adoption, Ethereum continues evolving as the foundation of decentralized applications.