What is Ethereum (ETH)?

Ethereum(ETH) is a blockchain platform that enables the creation and execution of smart contracts and decentralized applications (dApps). Ethereum’s innovative architecture allows developers to build, deploy and run applications directly on its network.

Its native cryptocurrency “Ether” generally referred to as “Ethereum(ETH)”, is the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization after Bitcoin as of October 2024.

Found by Vitalik Brutin, a Canadian-Russian and the team including Gavin Wood, Charles Hoskinson, Anthony Di Iorio, and Joseph Lubing, Ethereum was ready in 2013. In the same year, Vitalik Brutin, the owner and CTO published a Whitepaper describing the features of the Ethereum blockchain and officially launched the network in 2015.

Ethereum's network has driven the widespread creation of decentralized finance & exchanges, DAOs, and games & fungible (ERC-20) and non-fungible (ERC-721) tokens, because of its high level of security and processing speed at 13-15 seconds/transaction. 

The Ethereum blockchain platform is the flag bearer of smart contract development and top used Blockchain as per a TVL of $121.26b (October 2024)

Ethereum 2.0 is a migration to proof-of-stake (PoS) from the proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism on 15 September 2022, reducing energy usage by 99% this first upgrade is known as “The Merge”. On March 13, 2024, the second upgrade “Dencun”, lowered transaction fees on the many layer 2 networks built above the Ethereum blockchain.

Unlike other cryptocurrencies, Ethereum has no fixed total supply, the amount of ETH can change over time, and it has $120.37 million Ether in circulating supply as of October 2024. 

Ethereum (ETH) History:

• In 2014, Ethereum Switzerland GmbH(EthSuisse), a Swiss Company developed software underlying Ethereum in which smart contracts should be specified before blockchain implementation.

• Ethereum Foundation developed, a pre-release prototype “Olympic” offering a 25,000 ETH bug bounty for testing the Ethereum blockchain. On 30 July 2015, the “Frontier “launched the Ethereum platform and created the first “genesis block” containing 8,893 transactions.

• In 2016, Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) raised USD 150 million in crowd sales, also later it was exploited in 2016 losing $50 million Ether by unknown hackers 

• In 2017, the first Blockchain game “CryptoKitties a decentralized application featuring digital cat artwork as NFTs was launched on the Ethereum network.

• “Berlin and London” network updates in 2021, improved efficiency and reduced transaction fees.

• On August 27, 2021, the Ethereum network had a major fork due to users using incompatible software versions.

Ethereum Price History: 

• Initially, Ether was distributed as part of crowdfunding for $0.30 for 1ETH in July-August 2014 & hosted on the Kraken exchange on July 30, 2015, with a price of $2.77.

• Ethereum price all-time low was $0.42 on October 22, 2015.

• In January 2018, Ethereum reached $1,119.37 stood second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.

• Ether was at an all-time high of price $4,891.70 on November 16, 2021.

Ethereum Price Prediction:

• According to Coinpedia, Ethereum's price in 2025 is expected to vary between a potential low of $2917 to USD 6925, an average value of $3392.5.

• ETH or Ether or Ethereum price in 2026 might vary between $5,566.77 and $6,610.75 the average price of Ether could be around $5,713.12.

• Ethereum price (ETH) in 2027 potentially ranges between $6,800.10 to $8,705.44 and the average price of ETH could be around $7,246.74.

• In 2028, the Ether price could span between $8,613.01 to $10,410.87 and the average Ether could be around $9,482.48.

• Ethereum forecast for the year 2029 could fall between $10,192.00 to $12,994.32 and the average ETH coin price could be around 11,010.77 dollars.

• Ethereum coin price in 2030 indicates an average price of $14,163.01. The asset may vary between a potential low of $12,647.23 and a high of $15,575.21. 

How to buy Ethereum (ETH) : 

Some of the popular crypto exchanges include:

Centralized Exchanges: About 30+ exchanges support swapping or trading the Ethereum few popular like Binance, Bybit, OKX, Upbit, HTX and Kraken. 

Decentralized Exchanges (DEXs): Ether can be swapped or traded in 70+ exchanges like Pancakeswap, Curve, osmosis, loopring exchanges, and Pangolin.

Wallets for Ethereum (ETH): 

About 80+ Web3 best wallets support storing Ethereum or ETH including:

Hardware Wallets: The private keys can be stored in hardware device wallets like Ledger Nano X, SafePal S1, Trezor Safe 3, Tangem wallet and Keystone 3 Pro.

Software Wallets: Users can directly interact with the blockchain network via GUI(graphic user interface) using Metamask, Math Wallet, Argent, and Cobo.

Ethereum ETF: 

• Ethereum ETF is an Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) is a type of investment fund traded on stock exchanges, similar to stocks. Authorized participants, usually large institutions, help keep their prices close to their net asset value (NAV) by trading large blocks of shares. Investors buy and sell ETF shares through a brokerage account.

• ETFs provide Diversification, Liquidity, Transparency, Lower Fees, Flexibility, and Tax Efficiency.

• Includes stocks, bonds, commodity, sector, international, and thematic ETFs.