Ethereum's current live price is $2,541.99**, with a 24-hour trading volume of **$6,704,642,703. The price has decreased by 1.97% in the last 24 hours but increased by 4.17% over the past week. Ethereum's market capitalization stands at $306,861,620,466, with a circulating supply of 120,717,083 ETH tokens. Currently, Ethereum ranks #2 in the global cryptocurrency market.
All data and prices are updated in real time. The most active and popular exchanges for trading ETH are Binance, KuCoin & Kraken. For more options, check our Crypto Exchange Tracker. The safest hardware wallets to secure your crypto are Ledger and Trezor.
What Is Ethereum (ETH)?
Ether (ETH) is the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum ecosystem. Ethereum is an open-source blockchain offering a wide range of functionalities, including smart contracts, decentralized applications (dApps), and the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). These technologies make Ethereum unique, often referred to as the "world computer" due to its programmable and decentralized nature.
At the time of writing, Ethereum is the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap.
Who Developed Ethereum?
Ethereum was co-founded by eight programmers and entrepreneurs, with Vitalik Buterin as the most prominent member. Buterin authored the Ethereum whitepaper at age 19. Other key figures include Gavin Wood, who co-created Solidity (Ethereum’s programming language) and later founded Polkadot. The team conducted an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) in 2014, raising funds before Ethereum’s official launch on July 30, 2015.
Buterin remains the only active founder, while others have moved to competing projects or left the industry.
What Makes Ethereum Unique?
- Smart Contracts: Self-executing programs enabling trustless transactions.
- EVM: A decentralized computer executing all Ethereum tasks.
- Tokens & NFTs: Supports ERC-20 (fungible) and ERC-721 (NFT) standards.
- EIP-1559: Upgraded fee structure with automated base fees and fee burning.
- Ethereum 2.0: Transitioned from Proof-of-Work (PoW) to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) for scalability and sustainability.
- ENS: Human-readable addresses (e.g.,
cryptoenthusiast.eth).
Ethereum Killers
Competitors like Solana (SOL), Polkadot (DOT), and Polygon (MATIC) aim to solve Ethereum’s scalability issues but haven’t surpassed its dominance.
FAQs
Q: How is Ethereum different from Bitcoin?
A: Ethereum focuses on programmable contracts and dApps, while Bitcoin is primarily a digital currency.
Q: What is staking in Ethereum 2.0?
A: Validators lock 32 ETH to earn rewards (~6% APR) for securing the network.
Q: Why are gas fees high on Ethereum?
A: Network congestion increases demand for block space, raising fees. EIP-1559 and PoS aim to mitigate this.
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Data updated in real time. Always DYOR before investing.
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