What is Ethereum?
Omni -Ethereum is one of the most popular blockchains, recognized for pioneering the operation of smart contracts.
Ethereum is prized by developers for its security functions and supportive tools for building dApps. To date, Ethereum has the highest developer count, which is a good sign as the building of Ethereum dApps in gaming, DeFi services, and marketplaces continue to thrive.
Ethereum moved from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake fully in September 2022 to become more scalable, eco-friendly and secure.
Ethereum is one of the most popular blockchains, second to only Bitcoin in total market cap. At its core, Ethereum is specialized to provide a decentralized platform that facilitates global payments and helps to build secure applications using blockchain technology. Although there are many existing blockchains, Ethereum stands out among its contenders because it pioneered the operations of smart contracts and continues to make transaction among peers much more secure than most of its competitors. The Ethereum ecosystem is vibrantly filled by the most popular dApps like Cryptokitties, OpenSea, and Decentraland.
In the early 2010s, the only dominant blockchain was Bitcoin, which was used primarily for money transfer. However, the co-founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, believed that blockchains needed to be used for applications beyond just money transfer. Buterin went on to popularize the concept of smart contracts with the introduction of Ethereum, which launched on July 2015. Imagine if you want to automatically facilitate a transaction between two people. For example, what if you set an agreement with your friend that every time she gives you an apple, your account transfers her $1? Smart contracts use programmatic logic to make this process automatic. With its provision of self-executing contracts, developers can use Ethereum’s smart contracts to build dynamic and innovative services for people all over the world, including games, lending and trading platforms, and marketplaces.
The Ethereum network kickstarted its largest upgrade since its genesis on December 2020, primarily to increase its throughput and reduce its energy consumption. The network will permanently replace its proof-of-work mechanism with a proof-of-stake mechanism, both of which are systems that help to prevent fraudulent transactions and create new blocks. With its move to proof-of-stake, Ethereum will become more eco-friendly, secure, and scalable by conducting more transactions per second.
Ethereum has one of the highest number of daily active users and the number of new dApps building on Ethereum continues to skyrocket. Due to its legacy, mission and dedication to security, and decentralization, Ethereum is one of Web3 users’ favorite networks.
Many Ethereum holders prefer to not sell their ETH and find ETH staking to be a great way to passively earn more ETH. Learn more about liquid staking ETH and how you can earn more ETH.
