Ethereum
EthereumETH3 575.00$ -2.72%

A decentralized computing platform

2 Rank
431.77B$ Market Cap
22.34B$ 24H Volume

ETH price live chart

3 575.00$-2.72%
1h
1d
1w
1m
1y
Ethereum Price statistic
Ethereum price today
Ethereum price
3 575.00 $
Price change (24h)
2.72% -99.90 $
Trading volume (24h)
22.34B $
Market Dominance
11.80%
Market rank
#2
Ethereum price history
All Time High
Nov 10 2021 (3 years ago)
26.55% 4 867.00 $
Ethereum Market Cap
Market Cap
431.77B $
Ethereum Supply
Circulating Supply
120.44M ETH

Download Ethereum wallet app

Begin your crypto earnings history with Cropty app

Awesome mix: bakn, swap, buy crypto. We are not bank, but we store your crypto safely!

qr

Store & Transfer ETH safely

Cropty is a convenient mobile app to store, transfer and receive Ethereum safely. Cropty supports multiple networks and cryptocurrencies. Investing in ETH becomes easy with Cropty wallet.

Monitor your ETH balance in USD

You can track your Ethereum value in 11 fiat currencies: USD ($), RUB (₽), EUR (€), INR (₨), THB (฿), KRW (₩), UAH (₴), GEL (₾), TRY (₺), GBP (£), BRL (R$).

Receive ETH in ETH, BNB networks

Cropty cryptocurrency wallet supports Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB Chain, Polygon and Tron networks. To receive Ethereum in Ethereum (ERC-20), Binance smart chain (BEP-20) networks, just download the app, sign up and share your public address or QR-code with the sender.

Send Ethereum by mobile phone number with 0% fee

No more confusion with crypto public addresses: in the Cropty cryptocurrency wallet you can send Ethereum just by mobile phone number, QR-code and even a nickname! Make instant zero-fee Ethereum transfers in your usual ways.

ETH wallet mobile app for iOS and Android

Get access to Ethereum right in your mobile phone or any browser. Cryptocurrency investments wallet is already available for Android and iOS. Download Cropty to invest in Ethereum online.

Ethereum basics

Name

Ether

Category

Infrastructure

What is Ethereum?

Ethereum is a distributed blockchain computing platform for smart contracts and decentralized applications. Its native token is ether (ETH), which primarily serves as a means of payment for transaction fees and as collateral for borrowing specific ERC-20 tokens within the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector.

Ethereum token type

Token name

ETH

Token type

Native

Token uses

Payments, Work

What is Ethereum used for in 2024?

Ether is used to pay gas fees on every transaction. Once migrated to Eth2, validators will stake the tokens to participate in consensus and receive block rewards.

With the Beacon Chain in production, users can deposit their ETH into the Deposit Contract to claim a validator slot on the Ethereum 2.0 network. Validators have the right to stake ETH on the Beacon Chain to participate in block production and earn staking rewards.

Ethereum ecosystem
User photo
Compound
Compound is a decentralized protocol which establishes money markets with algorithmically set interest rates based on supply and demand, allowing users to frictionlessly exchange the time value of Ethereum assets.
User photo
ConsenSys
ConsenSys is a global formation of technologists and entrepreneurs working to enable a decentralized world.
User photo
Gitcoin
Gitcoin's mission is to grow and sustain open source development. Gitcoin believes that open source software developers create billions of dollars in value, but don't get to capture that value. They are aiming to use blockchain technology to change the way that open source software is monetized. Their suite of products connect coders to funders and enables programmers to better monetize their work in open source.
User photo
Infura
Infura builds scalable web3 blockchain infrastructure with a mission is to provide the world with secure, stable, and scalable access to Ethereum and IPFS
User photo
MetaMask
An Ethereum dapp browser add-on enabling web3 sites and allowing easy identity management
User photo
Moloch DAO
MolochDAO is a decentralized autonomous organization created to fund Ethereum 2.0 grants and help solve the incentive and coordination problems inherent in funding open-source protocols. Members receive voting shares proportional to the amount of Ether they have contributed. New member applicants are accepted based on a majority vote. Every member contributes to approved grants based on the DAO pool. Any member can propose a grant, which is then voted on and approved or disapproved by group consensus. Dissenting members can withdraw their funds via a "ragequit," which does not change the grant's approval. Ragequit is a function included in MolochDAO to disincentivize approving any highly contentious grants that could potentially lead to a ragequit.
User photo
OpenSea
OpenSea is the first and largest peer-to-peer marketplace for cryptogoods (like an eBay for crypto assets), which include collectibles, gaming items, and other virtual goods backed by a blockchain where anyone can buy or sell these items through a smart contract.
User photo
Prysmatic Labs
Prsymatic Labs is developing Prysm, a full featured sharding client for Ethereum 2.0, that can process transactions as fast as possible.
User photo
Uniswap
Uniswap is a protocol for automated token exchange on Ethereum.
User photo
Zeppelin
Zeppelin builds software to grow and protect the core infrastructure of an open, global economy, powered by blockchain technologies.
Show more

Ethereum history and first price

Launch style

Crowdsale

When did Ethereum launch?

Ethereum’s original token distribution event, managed by the Ethereum Foundation, sold roughly 60 million ethers (80% of the initial 72 million ETH supply) to the public. The sale took place between July 22, 2014, and September 02, 2014. However, the Ether purchased by crowdsale investors were not usable or transferable before the launch of the Genesis Block on July 31, 2015. The price of ether was initially set to a discounted price of 2000 ETH per BTC until August 05, 2019, before linearly declining to a final rate of 1337 ETH per BTC, reached on August 28, 2014.

  • 3,700 BTC were raised in the first 12 hours of the sale
  • Over 25,000 BTC were raised in the first 2 weeks.
  • The sale eventually allowed the Ethereum Foundation to raise over 31,000 BTC, equivalent to $18.3 million.

The remaining 12 million ETH (20% of the initial supply) were allocated to the Foundation and early Ethereum contributors. Of the ether sent to the Foundation:

  • 3 million were allocated to a long-term endowment
  • 6 million were distributed among 85 developers who contributed prior to the crowdsale
  • 3 million were designed as a “developer purchase program” which gave Ethereum developers the right to purchase ether at crowdsale prices.

How did Ethereum come about?

Conception to token sale Vitalik Buterin conceived Ethereum in 2013, after what he perceived as limitations in the functionality of Bitcoin’s scripting language, namely the lack of Turing completeness. Buterin published the first Ethereum white paper later that year, describing a distributed computing platform for executing smart contracts and building decentralized applications (dApps). In 2014, Buterin and some other early contributors founded the Ethereum Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to Ethereum’s research, core protocol development, and ecosystem growth. The foundation's first task was to host the Ethereum crowdsale, which raised 31,529 BTC (~$18 million at the time) in exchange for about 60 million ether, and use the proceeds to fund the network's initial development. The Ethereum Foundation continues to be the primary funding organization, issuing grants to research teams and projects focused on Ethereum.

The rise of initial coin offerings (ICOs) Ethereum's mainnet launched in July 2015, with the first live release known as Frontier. Shortly thereafter, Augur (REP) conducted the first Initial Coin Offering (ICO), in which the startup sold its Ethereum-based REP tokens (created via the ERC-20 standard) to help fund the project. The ability to develop and sell a newly generated token to help raise capital became an attractive method of fundraising because projects could circumvent the legal policies and costs required from traditional companies (until more recently). Ethereum-focused startups created thousands of new tokens since Augur's ICO, raising billions of dollars in the process.

The DAO hack In April 2016, a decentralized venture fund known as The DAO hosted an ICO, raising ~$150 million in ETH in the process. A few months later (July 2016), an attacker exploited a bug in one of The DAO's smart contracts, enabling the guilty party to siphon 3.6 million ETH. A significant portion of the Ethereum community opted to revert the chain to remove The DAO and its subsequent hack from the network's history. The remaining stakeholders held the preservation of immutability in higher regard and refused to accept a ledger rewrite. The divide in the community led to a contentious hard fork a few weeks post-hack, causing a permanent split in the network. The legacy chain that did not reverse its transaction history is now known as Ethereum Classic ($ETC).

The path to scalability: Ethereum 2.0 Scalability is a known limitation for the current state of Ethereum. Periods of high user activity, as seen during the CryptoKitties launch in Nov. 2017 and the DeFi bonanza during the Summer of 2020, can cause transaction times and fees to skyrocket, which often prices out retail users and newcomers.

The potential shortcomings of Ethereum's current design are nothing new to Ethereum developers. Various teams have been working since the launch of Ethereum to upgrade the network to account for better scalability and security measures without compromising the community's values of decentralization. The current plan is to swap Ethereum's consensus layer from Proof-of-Work (PoW) to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) and implement a scaling technique known as sharding in a massive upgrade called Serenity (also referred to as Ethereum 2.0).

Ethereum developers have broken down this upgrade into three or more phases to minimize complexity as they add more features. The first phase Phase 0 has a minimum launch date of Dec. 1, 2020. It will bring the Beacon Chain (the backbone of Ethereum 2.0) to life and enable the network to bootstrap a stable of validators to ensure network security. The following phases are being developed in parallel but might take several years before they reach completion.

Ethereum roadmap 2024
Istanbul (Phase II): Berlin
January 1970 · Hard Fork Upgrade

The launch of Berlin, the second step of the Istanbul upgrade, should occur at some point in 2020. Ethereum core developers split Istanbul into two phases because two of the EIPs up for discussion require extensive testing and development before launch. At the moment, core devs have approved and raised two EIPs to accepted status. There are two other proposed EIPs that may be ready in time for Berlin.

Accepted EIP-2315 implements simple subroutines for the EVM which could lower gas costs and make states analysis easier EIP 2537 (which superseded EIP-1962) implements a single BLS curve to make it easier to deploy and manage rollup contracts and zk-SNARKs/STARKs

Proposed EIP-2046 reduces the gas cost for static calls made to precompiled contracts EIP-2565 will re-price the ModExp precompile (EIP-198) to enable more cost-efficient verification of RSA signatures, verifiable delay functions (VDFs), and primality checks, among other functions

Istanbul Phase II notably excludes any EIPs related to the difficulty bomb (i.e., the Ethereum "ice age"). The core developers concluded, "there's no major reason do it now" because the difficulty bomb is only necessary once Ethereum 2.0 and its Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism are activated. Overlooking an Ice Age EIP for now also prevents any further delays in Berlin's development phase.

Core devs and the greater Ethereum community also excludes the EIP-1057, the proposal for the now-infamous ProgPoW (short for Progressive Proof-of-Work). It aimed to alter Ethereum's hashing algorithm to close the performance efficiency gap between generalized and specialized mining hardware (otherwise known as ASICs). While GPU miners and some core devs favored the proposal, many in the community were vehemently against it. Therefore, all sides agree to a href=" "not include ProgPoW/a in any upcoming forks as no protocol changes are worth triggering a network split

Learn more: Berlin EIPs spreadsheet

EIP-1559
January 1970 · Network Change

EIP-1559 was authored by Vitalik Buterin and Eric Conner, among others. It aims to replace Ethereum's "first-price auction" fee model with a base network fee that could change based on network demand. The goal is to create a more efficient fee market and simplify the gas payment process for client and application software, removing the potential for users to pay unnecessarily high gas fees. EIP-1559 also proposes burning the base network fee to help keep this fee low and ETH inflation in check.

Serenity Phase 1
January 1970 · Network Upgrade

Phase 1 will introduce 64 independent shard chains to the ETH 2.0 network. Shard chains will not execute state or keep track of account balances, as the phase intends to only test the construction and validity of shard chains with the Beacon chain. ETH 1.0 will continue to run in parallel with ETH 2.0 throughout this phase.

Serenity Phase 1.5: ETH1 <> ETH2 merge
January 1970 · Network Change

A proposal for merging the current Ethereum network with Ethereum 2.0 first introduced by Vitalik Buterin. The proposal intends to remove the Proof-of-Work (PoW) chain by moving everything onto the Beacon Chain on an accelerated schedule. This accelerated merge requires stateless clients on Ethereum 1.x, which would remove the need for most nodes to store the entire state altogether.

Serenity Phase 2
January 1970 · Network Change

The final phase of Serenity will add full-functionality to shard chains, enabling them to execute transactions and maintain account balances. It also introduces the eWASM virtual machine, which will replace the EVM.

Olympic
May 2015 · Testnet Launch

Olympic was the final Ethereum proof-of-concept released before mainnet launch. Its stated purpose was to reward participants for testing the limits of the Ethereum design by “spamming the network with transactions and doing crazy things with the state.” The event included a competition that offered a pool of 25,000 ETH (a href=" "~0.03% of Ethereum's initial supply/a) for the top miner and developer participants. Broad testnet engagement unearthed critical bugs and simple optimizations in the live system that the core team was able to identify and resolve pre-mainnet. Ethereum core developers deprecated Olympic when Frontier launched in favor of Mordon, the Frontier-equivalent public testnet.

Frontier (mainnet launch)
July 2015 · Network Launch

Frontier marked the official 1.0 release of the Ethereum mainnet and introduced a series of new characteristics, including a block reward, a temporary gas block limit, and Canary contracts. The Frontier launch enabled miners to start receiving real ETH as a reward for their efforts, with the initial block subsidy consisting of five ETH per valid block. Version 1.0 also featured a hardcoded gas limit of 5000 gas per block to prevent any issues with node installation. The gas limit lasted only a few days post-launch before being automatically removed. To avoid unwanted chain forks, Frontier contained Canary contracts as well. Canary contracts gave Ethereum core developers the ability to stop specific operations or transactions before a miner wandered off to an orphaned chain. These contracts meant the final execution of transactions remained centralized in Ethereum's early stages.

Homestead
March 2016 · Hard Fork Upgrade

Homestead was the first planned hard fork of Ethereum and took place at block number 1,150,000. The upgrade removed the Canary contracts used in Frontier, thus eliminating the centralized process for executing transactions, and introduced the now widely-used Solidity smart contracts. It also included the (now deprecated) Mist wallet, the first user interface (UI) for storing and transacting tokens, as well as writing and deploying smart contracts.

Furthermore, Homestead was one of the first implementations of a href=" "Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs)/a, and the upgrade introduced three new EIPs upon activation: EIP-2 (which included sub-proposals EIPs 2.1-2.4) ensured ACID compliance (all-or-nothing) for contract deployments and helped stabilize block times EIP-7 added the DELETECALL opcode EIP-8 equipped client software with the ability to accommodate future network protocol updates

Spurious Dragon
November 2016 · Hard Fork Upgrade

The Spurious Dragon hard fork activated at block 2,675,000, which arrived on Nov. 22, 2019. The upgrade introduced four code changes: EIP-155 offered protection from replay attacks EIP-160 increase the price of the EXP opcode to make it more challenging to slow down the network with computationally intensive operations EIP-161 makes it possible to remove large numbers of empty accounts to reduced blockchain state size EIP-170 set a limit for the code size a smart contract can contain to prevent repetitive attacks on large pieces of code

Metropolis: Byzantium
October 2017 · Hard Fork Upgrade

Byzantium was the first phase of the proposed Metropolis upgrade and activated at block 4,370,000. The Byzantium hard fork included nine EIPs, with EIP-100, EIP-658, and EIP-649, introducing the most significant code changes. EIP-100 adjusted the difficulty formula to stabilize the ETH issuance rate EIP-658 added a new field to transaction receipts to indicate success or failure EIP-649 delayed the difficulty bomb (i.e., the Ethereum "ice age") by one year and reduced the block subsidy from five to three ETH Details on the remaining Byzantium EIPs are available here.

Metropolis: Constantinople/St. Petersburg
February 2019 · Hard Fork Upgrade

Constantinople, the second phase of Metropolis, was initially scheduled to go live at block 7,080,000 (January 16, 2019). But on January 15, 2019, security auditing firm ChainSecurity discovered a vulnerability in one of the accepted EIPs that would enable a reentrancy attack (i.e., the opportunity for an attacker to steal user funds similar to The DAO hack). Core Ethereum developers and some projects running on the network voted to delay Constantinople until the developers closed the security loophole.

After a month-long delay, Constantinople and its security patch, St. Petersburg, went live at block 7,280,000, introducing five new code changes to the network: EIP-145 added Bitwise shifting instructions to the EVM, making the execution of shifts in smart contracts significantly cheaper EIP-1052 expedited inter-smart contract verification (smart contract can verify each other via a hash rather than the entire code set) EIP-1014 improved state channel integrations to facilitate the connection to off-chain scaling solutions EIP-1283 reduced costs for executing multiple updates within a single transaction (aka the SSTORE opcode) EIP-1234 delayed the difficulty bomb for another year and reduced the mining reward from three to two ETH per block (the reduction is also known as the "Thirdening")

Istanbul (Phase I)
December 2019 · Hard Fork Upgrade

The first phase of Istanbul is set to activate at block 9,069,000, almost two months after its initially scheduled launch (Oct. 16, 2019). Istanbul Phase I intends to introduce six new EIPs upon activation to help optimize opcode computational costs, improve denial-of-service attack security, and enhance the performance of layer-2 solutions using a href=" "ZK-SNARKs/a or a href=" "ZK-STARKs/a, among other advancements. The accepted EIPs include: EIP-152 adds the ability to verify Zcash-to-Ethereum atomic swaps EIP-1108 reduces the costs for ZK-SNARKs EIP-1344 improves smart contract ability, especially those used by layer-2 solutions, to track the correct base chain during a hard fork EIP-1844 restructures the costs of specific a href=" "Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)/a opcodes to deter spamming attacks and to match each operation with its required level of computation EIP-2028 reduces the cost of calling data within transactions and the fees associated with ZK-SNARKs and ZK-STARKs EIP-2200 alters the cost of storage in the EVM and allows smart contracts to generate more creative functions

Muir Glacier
January 2020 · Hard Fork Upgrade

The Muir Glacier hard fork activated at block 9,200,000, which arrived on Jan. 2, 2020. The upgrade only included EIP-2384, which delayed Ethereum's inherent "Difficulty Bomb" for another 4,000,000 blocks (approximately 611 days) to prevent block times from increasing (and usability plummeting). Muir Glacier's abrupt arrival, less than a month after Istanbul, marked the third time Ethereum core developers opted to delay the Difficulty Bomb (aka Ice Age).

Learn more: Ethereum Muir Glacier Upgrade by the Ethereum Cat Herders

Serenity Phase 0
December 2020 · Network Launch

Serenity Phase 0 marks Ethereum's initial transition to Ethereum 2.0. This initial phase will introduce the Beacon Chain, which will serve as the backbone for Ethereum 2.0's sharded network architecture. As opposed to Ethereum's current Proof-of-Work (PoW) blockchain, the Beacon Chain will use Casper FFG, a specific variation of Proof-of-Stake (PoS), and a system of validators to confirm transactions and inhibit Sybil attacks.

Ethereum core developers split the Serenity upgrade into three phases to optimize the development process and limit deployment risks. The specifications for this first phase include: Beacon Chain is the core of the Ethereum 2.0 system; it manages the PoS protocol for itself and all of the individual shard chains. The Beacon chain will use Casper the Friendly Finality Gadget (Casper FFG) to ensure transaction finality. Fork Choice enables validators' clients to automatically select the right chain when the Phase 0 Serenity fork is initiated Deposit Contract allows Ethereum stakeholders to transfer funds from ETH 1.0 to ETH 2.0 and claim rights to a validator role on the new PoS chain Honest Validator dictates the expected behavior of an "honest validator and slashing specifications with respect to Phase 0 of ETH 2.0

It is essential to note the launch of Phase 0 will not immediately replace Ethereum 1.0 (also known as Ethereum 1.x). The two chains will coexist for at least until Serenity Phase 1.5 arrives, which marks when the current Ethereum chain will merge into the Ethereum 2.0 system a shard within the network. Running the legacy and future chains in parallel may cause ETH inflation to increase as both chains will simultaneously mint new tokens.

Show more

Ethereum technology explained

Account-based model Ethereum is an account-based blockchain consisting of external accounts, which are controlled by a user’s private keys, and contract accounts, which are managed by contract code. External contracts can create and sign messages to send to both types of accounts, while contract accounts can only execute transactions automatically in response to a message they have received. The latter are what are known as smart contracts and enable the programmability of decentralized applications (dApps).

Ethereum Virtual Machine The heart of the Ethereum blockchain is known as the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), which is the part of the protocol that executes transactions. It is a Turing complete virtual machine featuring a specific language “EVM bytecode,” typically written in a higher-level language called Solidity. Every operation on the EVM requires computational effort and memory. Ethereum node operators and miners provide these scarce resources to application developers and network users in exchange for gas. Different operations require different amounts of gas, and the user can specify how much they are willing to pay in ETH for each unit of gas. The amount of gas required for the transaction, along with the price paid, becomes the transaction cost. Every transaction also had a gas limit to prevent attacks from overloading blocks, which could slow down block production.

Developer tools and token standards Ethereum adopted Ethereum Request for Comment (ERC) 20 in late 2015 as a standard for Ethereum smart contracts to issue tokens on the platform. The majority of tokens built on Ethereum are ERC-20 compliant, meaning they follow a standard set of rules defining how they are created and used. Another more popular token rule set is ERC-721 with standardizes the issuance of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) where any given token is distinguishable from another making them popular for gaming.

Ethereum 2.0 As Ethereum transitions to Eth 2.0, it will undergo significant changes to its design. It will transition from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake and feature a sharding architecture. Currently, nodes must validate every transaction to maintain an updated global state. The new sharding model segments the network into various groups (called shards) and randomly assigns nodes to each shard. Rather than having to monitor the entire chain, nodes only have to validate their respective shard(s). Individual shards shared their transaction details with the Beacon Chain, which acts as the backbone of Ethereum 2.0. The Beacon Chain serves to validate the transactions on each shard, helping the entire network reach consensus. It also identifies dishonest validators and initiates penalties in the form of slashing, in which a portion of a validator's stake is removed from circulation. Eth 2.0 will also replace the EVM with Ethereum WebAssembly (eWASM), which intends to translate coding logic more efficiently and help improve Ethereum’s scalability.

Ethereum core contributors
Individuals
Companies
User photo
Joe Lubin
Founder of ConsenSys
Joseph Lubin is a co-founder of blockchain computing platform Ethereum and the founder of Consensus Systems (ConsenSys), a blockchain venture studio. ConsenSys is one of the largest and fastest-growing companies in the blockchain technology space, building developer tools, decentralized applications, and solutions for enterprises and governments that harness the power of Ethereum. Headquartered in New York, ConsenSys also has a global presence, employing top entrepreneurs, computer scientists, software developers, and experts in enterprise delivery worldwide. Lubin graduated from Princeton University with a degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He worked in the Princeton Robotics Lab, at tomandandy music developing an autonomous music composition tool, and at private research firm Vision Applications Inc. building autonomous mobile robots. As a software engineer and consultant, Lubin worked with eMagine on the Identrus project and was involved in the founding and operation of a hedge fund with a partner. He held positions as Director of the New York office of Blacksmith Software Consulting, and VP of Technology in Private Wealth Management at Goldman Sachs. Through these posts, Lubin focused on the intersection of cryptography, engineering, and finance. Switching gears, Lubin moved to Kingston, Jamaica to work on projects in the music industry. Two years into his musical endeavors, Lubin co-founded the Ethereum Project and has been working on Ethereum and ConsenSys since January 2014.
User photo
Vitalik Buterin
Co-Founder of Ethereum
Vitalik is the creator of Ethereum. He first discovered blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies through Bitcoin in 2011, and was immediately excited by the technology and its potential. He cofounded Bitcoin Magazine in September 2011, and after two and a half years looking at what the existing blockchain technology and applications had to offer, wrote the Ethereum white paper in November 2013. He now leads Ethereum's research team, working on future versions of the Ethereum protocol.
User photo
Tim Beiko
Product Manager at Pegasys
User photo
Pooja Ranjan
Project Manager at Ethereum Cat Herders
User photo
Peter Szilagyi
Core Software Developer at Ethereum Foundation
User photo
Martin Swende
Security Lead at Ethereum Foundation
User photo
Afri Schoedon
Release Manager at Parity Technologies
User photo
Hudson Jameson
COO and Blockchain Lead at Oaken Innovations
User photo
Greg Colvin
Designer and Developer at the Ethereum Foundation
User photo
Alexey Akhunov
Independent researcher and software developer
Show more
User photo
ConsenSys
ConsenSys is a global formation of technologists and entrepreneurs working to enable a decentralized world.
User photo
Ethereum Cat Herders
A project dedicated to decentralizing Ethereum project management
User photo
Ethereum Foundation
Ethereum is a decentralized platform that runs smart contracts: applications that run exactly as programmed without any possibility of downtime, censorship, fraud or third-party interference.
User photo
Gnosis
User photo
Status Research & Development GmbH
User photo
Prysmatic Labs
Prsymatic Labs is developing Prysm, a full featured sharding client for Ethereum 2.0, that can process transactions as fast as possible.
User photo
ConsenSys Software Inc
ConsenSys Software Inc (formerly PegaSys) is the protocol engineering group at ConsenSys developing performant and dependable solutions for a wide range of enterprises to incorporate and involve the public-chain community and private chain work by enterprises.
Show more

Ethereum supply limit

General Emission Type

Inflationary

Precise Emission Type

Fixed Issuance

Ethereum supply curve details

Block Rewards, Block Time, Hard Forks and Issuance Rate

New ether are generated via block rewards, initially set at 5 Ether per block. Those block rewards incentivize miners to secure the network. Miners that find an uncle block also receive 87.5% of the base block reward. Uncle blocks occur when several distinct miners simultaneously mine a block. In this case, the block that has the most accumulated PoW is conserved, and others are rejected. Unlike the Bitcoin chain that does not reward miners for orphan blocks, the Ethereum chain does reward uncle block miners. Transaction fees, however, are not awarded to uncle block miners. As Vitalik Buterin notes, the initial intent behind rewarding uncle block miners was to avoid mining centralization caused by the network lag that smaller miners could endure:

"This mechanic was originally introduced to reduce centralization pressures, by reducing the advantage that well-connected miners have over poorly connected miners."

In 2017, the difficulty bomb increased block times drastically, thus reducing the issuance rate. Indeed, the difficulty bomb, also known as "ice age" was initially designed as a mechanism to disincentivize miners to continue mining the Ethereum chain by making it exponentially harder to create a new block. This was meant to accelerate the transition from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake.

The Casper development and transition to Proof-of-Stake being delayed, Vitalik Buterin and Afri Schoeden proposed to delay the difficulty bomb and reduce the block rewards from 5 Ether to 3 Ether, thus leaving the system in the same general state as before. This proposal, EIP 649, was included in the Byzantium hard fork which was implemented on October 16, 2017, at block 4,370,000, thus effectively reducing block rewards from 5 Ether to 3 Ether and delaying the difficulty bomb for approximately 1.4 years.

On February 28, 2019, at block 7,280,000, the Constantinople hard fork further reduced block rewards from 3 Ether to 2 Ether, and once again delayed the difficulty bomb for approximately 12 months with EIP 1234.

The Ethereum's Parity multi-sig wallet bug

On November 06, 2017, a vulnerability in the "library" smart contract code was exploited by an anonymous user. Subsequently, the user destroyed the library contract. This destruction locked forever a total amount of 513,774.16 Ether located in 587 multi-signatures parity wallets. Messari Proprietary Methodology to calculate liquid supply excludes any non-transferable coins. Thus, these locked Ether are considered illiquid and are not included in our liquid supply calculation.

ETH 2.0 and the transition to Casper Proof-of-Stake

In ETH 2.0, the Ethereum chain will be maintained via a new proof-of-stake system, where rewards will be distributed on a sliding scale based on the total amount staked on the network. The more total supply that’s staked, the higher the system-wide issuance rate (to incentivize high cumulative participation). Although individual yields will decline as the staking participation increases. A table posted by Vitalik Buterin on Github lays out the sliding scale issuance rate.

Justin Drake, a researcher at the Ethereum Foundation, argued that targeting 30,000,000 ETH at stake, long-term, “seems about right for strong security.” It would represent about 30% of the network and result in an approximate 3% annual inflation. Nevertheless, the penalties applied to validators going offline as well as the slashing penalties and the transaction fees burnt due to EIP 1559 will lead to the destruction of Ether, thus reducing the total net issuance amount.

The transition to Proof-of-Stake will occur in three or four stages, according to the latest specifications shared by the core developers:

  • Phase 0, expected for Dec. 1, 2020, will initially increase issuance compared to the current level. This is due to the fact that both the Proof-of-Work and Beacon Chain will run simultaneously and rewards will be distributed on both chains, although the staking participation, and thus annual issuance on the Beacon Chain, will most likely be very low during this Phase.
  • Phase 1, expected for Q4 2021, will allow finalizing the Proof-of-Work chain with Proof-of-Stake. The Proof-of-Work rewards will most likely be reduced to match an issuance rate between 0.5% and 1% (versus 4.5% before Phase 1). Both Proof-of-Work and Proof-of-Stake rewards will co-exist and the global issuance rate should be around 1% at that stage.
  • Phase 1.5, estimated for 2022, will mark when Ethereum 2.0 transfers will likely unlock, giving stakers access to their previously inaccessible staked ETH and accumulated rewards. These rewards and staking amounts will date back to the launch of the Beacon Chain.
  • Phase 2, estimated for 2023, will progressively lead to an increase of staking participation, thus increasing the annual issuance rate, while Proof-of-Work will simultaneously progressively disappear.

Who funds Ethereum core development?
User photo
Pantera Capital
Pantera Capital is an investment firm focused exclusively on ventures, tokens, and projects related to blockchain tech, digital currency, and crypto assets.
User photo
Jump Capital
Jump Capital is an expansion stage venture firm with operating DNA at its core. We offer unparalleled institutional resources through Jump’s ecosystem, including access to a broad network, top research labs and academic institutions advancing the state of the art in healthcare, high-performance computing, data mining, and machine learning.
User photo
Kenetic Capital
Kenetic is a proprietary trading and investment firm focused on digital assets and blockchain related companies. We have developed technology to facilitate our quantitative trading strategies and offer various digital asset related structured products to counterparts.
User photo
KR1
KR1 is a European digital asset investment company supporting early stage decentralised and open source blockchain projects.
User photo
LD Capital
User photo
M31 Capital
M31 Capital is a global investment firm focused on cryptoassets & blockchain technology. The firm restricts itself to cryptoasset-specific investment strategies, including both direct token investments as well as select active network participation opportunities
User photo
Maven 11 Capital
Maven 11 is a prominent European investment firm solely focused on DLT / blockchain tech related ventures, tokens, digital currencies and digital assets. We are a diverse team of serial entrepreneurs and traditional finance professionals and above all passionate believers that blockchain technology will fundamentally change economic and social structures.
User photo
Multicoin Capital
A thesis-driven cryptofund offering LPs venture capital economics with all the advantages of public market liquidity
User photo
Outlier Ventures
Outlier Ventures has been backing Web 3 founders since 2014 and is the world’s leading Web 3 accelerator program on track to accelerate up to 100 startups and protocols in 2021 through both Ascent and their earlier pre-seed/seed program (Base Camp). Both Base Camp and Ascent recruit at intervals throughout the year, looking for founders accelerating the open metaverse thesis by launching token networks. Specializing in a New Data Economy, NFTs, and DeFi they bring together a network of 1,000 of the world’s leading Web 3 founders, protocols, and VCs to mentor and invest.
User photo
How 2 Ventures
A Blockchain Venture Capital, Digital Asset & Cryptocurrency Hedge Fund. How 2 Ventures five-point strategy focuses on several areas of investment within the Blockchain startup, and Digital Asset & Cryptocurrency markets: 1. Emerging Blockchain Technology (pre-ICO & ICO investments). 2. Established Blockchain networks’ digital assets & cryptocurrencies (forks, airdrops, etc.). 3. Emerging Blockchain networks’ digital assets & cryptocurrencies (growth, adoption, etc.). 4. Leverage trading during periods of volatility to increase returns (BTC, ETH vs. alternative coins). 5. Capitalize on swings in the market using alpha theory (-2, -1, 0, 1, 2)
User photo
Paradigm
User photo
Placeholder VC
Placeholder is a venture capital partnership that invests in decentralized information networks.
User photo
SNZ
User photo
Three Arrows Capital
Three Arrows Capital Pte. Ltd. is a hedge fund manager established in 2012 and focused on providing superior risk-adjusted returns, founded by Su Zhu and Kyle Davies.
User photo
Union Square Ventures
USV is a small collegial partnership that manages over $1B across seven funds.
User photo
ValueNet Capital
ValueNet Capital is a venture fund focused exclusively in investing on Blockchain technologies. It has strong relationships with some of the most promising entrepreneurs and other top investors in the space.
User photo
Winklevoss Capital Management, LLC
Winklevoss Capital is a family office founded by Tyler Winklevoss and Cameron Winklevoss.
User photo
CMT Digital
CMT Digital, a division of the CMT Group, is focused on crypto asset trading, blockchain technology investments, and legal/policy engagement in the crypto asset / blockchain technology industry. Beginning in late 2013, under the leadership of Colleen Sullivan, the firm immersed itself in understanding the bitcoin protocol and took an active role in shaping the regulatory landscape for crypto assets. Accustomed to operating in highly regulated markets, CMT Digital participates in global discussions on regulation, policy, and best practices in the crypto asset and blockchain space.
User photo
8 Decimal Capital
8 Decimal Capital is a multi-strategy investment firm focused on both token and equity investment. They currently have more than 30 portfolio companies, and an AUM of 60M USD. The investment team consists of more than 10 venture capital veterans, researchers, and trading professionals. 8 Decimal thematically invest in core infrastructure layer projects that address security, scalability and privacy, provide a full suite of post investment value add to our portfolio companies.
User photo
8Decimal Capital
User photo
a16z Crypto
a16z crypto is the blockchain and cryptoasset investment arm of Venture Capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. The fund was launched with $300 million to invest in crypto companies and protocols. a16z crypto is structured to hold investments for 10+ years and invest throughout various market cycles. Along with capital a16z Crypto provides support from the a16z team to assist startups with executive and technical recruiting, regulatory affairs, communications and marketing, and general startup management.
User photo
Alameda Research
Alameda Research was founded in October 2017. It manages over $100 million in digital assets and trades $600 million to $1.5 billion per day across thousands of products: all major coins and altcoins, as well as their derivatives.
User photo
Astronaut Capital
Astronaut Capital is a licensed asset manager (CIMA: 1491696) focused on providing an outperforming investment vehicle to retail, sophisticated and institutional investors. ASTRO is a close-ended Erc-20 token which has been created to service the needs of the crypto community. The token focuses on exposure to a diversified portfolio including ICO's, cryptocurrencies and altcoins.
User photo
Blocktree Capital
BlockTree Capital is an investment and venture firm focused exclusively on ventures, tokens, and projects related to blockchain technology, digital currency, and crypto assets.
User photo
Boost VC
The Boost VC Accelerator has invested $500k in Sci-Fi Founders. 250+ companies funded. Crypto, VR, space, AI, robotics, biotech, Sci-Fi.
User photo
Boost VC
Boost VC is the #1 accelerator in the world for Crypto and VR startups and is committed to making science fiction technologies a reality. Since 2012, we’ve funded 250+ companies who have gone on to raise an additional $1 billion and are actively changing the world.
User photo
1Confirmation
A venture fund that seeks to fund exceptional founders who build to advance the decentralization of the web and society
User photo
Delphi Digital
Delphi Digital is an independent research and consulting boutique specializing in the digital asset market.
User photo
Digital Currency Group
Digital Currency Group (formerly known as the Bitcoin Opportunity Fund) is an investment firm focused on early seed rounds in cryptocurrency firms focusing on building out the infrastructure for the industry. It was founded by fintech entrepreneur Barry Silbert, who also founded SecondMarket, a private market for illiquid assets such as startup stock options. As a general rule, their investments focus on equity in companies rather than tokens, though they do purchase and hold cryptocurrencies. DCG also owns and operates CoinDesk, a well-known media company in the space, Genesis Trading, a bitcoin brokerage firm, and Grayscale Investments, a digital currency asset management firm. DCG has made over 100 investments in the space including well-known startups like Protocol Labs, Coinbase, and Ripple.
User photo
Electric Capital
Electric Capital is a crypto asset management firm. They invest in tokens that are Programmable Money. Electric Capital invests in both liquid and illiquid tokens that are emerging stores of value and rooted in novel technology. The firm was started by technology entrepreneurs, engineers, and successful investors. Before Electric Capital, the founders started six companies (five acquired), invested in 100+ technology startups with a cumulative market cap in the tens of billions, and served as executives at technology companies such as Facebook, Google, and Twitter. They have been investing personally in cryptocurrencies since 2013 and were early believers in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Monero.
User photo
Electric Capital
User photo
Fabric Ventures
User photo
Galaxy Digital
Galaxy Digital is a diversified, multi-service merchant bank dedicated to the digital assets and blockchain technology industry. Galaxy Digital’s multi-disciplinary team has extensive experience spanning investing, portfolio management, capital markets, operations, and blockchain technology. Galaxy Digital currently operates four distinct business lines, which include: Trading (arbitrage, macro, market making/OTC), Asset Management (management of external capital across passive and ecosystem funds), Principal Investing (private equity, venture, public equity, ICO investments, Pre-ICO investments, and liquid and illiquid cryptocurrencies), and Advisory (capital markets, M&A/restructuring, and technical consulting services to both start-ups and established institutions). Galaxy Digital’s CEO and Founder is Michael Novogratz.
User photo
HASHED
Show more
USD to ETH converter
USD
$
ETH
coin

Ethereum consensus

General consensus mechanism

Proof-of-Work

Targeted block time

0.25 min

How Ethereum works?

Modified GHOST protocol The Ethereum White Paper states Ethereum uses a modified version of the "Greedy Heaviest Observed Subtree" (GHOST) protocol to distinguish the "longest" base chain (the chain with the most accumulated Proof-of-Work backing it) from forks. Nakamoto Consensus, the implementation used by Bitcoin ($BTC) and its forks, is problematic in networks with fast confirmation times (i.e., block times) like Ethereum. Quick block times lead to a higher stale or orphan rate, which can split mining resources among competing forks and reduce overall network security. Accelerated confirmation times also increases the likelihood a single mining pool could obtain a majority of the hashpower on a given chain.

The GHOST protocol attempts to solve this issue of network security by including orphan blocks in the calculation of the longest chain. Therefore, the GHOST model determines the valid chain by weighing the parent and further ancestors as well as the number of stale descendants. The protocol also rewards the mining of orphan blocks directly connected to the longest chain to combat potential centralization concerns. Orphan block miners do not receive any transaction fees, only a portion of the block subsidy, as stale transactions are not considered valid.

Some say GHOST works better in theory than in practice, claiming Ethereum further modified its consensus implementation before (or soon after) launch to avoid security complications. Others suggest the Ethereum consensus model better resembles Nakamoto consensus or a modified version of the Inclusive protocol. But the inclusion of EIP-100 in the Byzantium fork changed Ethereum's difficulty calculation algorithm to include orphan blocks, which indicates the proposed modified GHOST implementation is intact. Regardless of the security model classification, Ethereum continues to reward orphan block miners with 87.5% of the base block reward.

Mining Ethereum miners solve computational puzzles to generate new blocks by running the Ethash Proof-of-Work (PoW) algorithm. In this process, miners compete to discover a valid hash, using the Keccak-256 and Keccak-512 hash functions, as defined by Ethereum's difficulty adjustment algorithm. Unlike Bitcoin's biweekly adjustments, Ethereum recalculates its difficulty level every block based on the time between the two previous blocks.

Cryptographers designed Ethash to be ASIC-resistant by making it memory intensive for specialized mining chips. But the popularity of Ethereum led mining chip manufacturer Bitmain to release the first ASICs miners for Ethash in April 2018. The majority of the Ethereum remains opposed to ASIC miners, as evidenced by its support for the ProgPoW EIP (a likely inclusion in the second Istanbul hard fork). Ethereum also plans to transition to a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus model, which would render any mining equipment obsolete.

Ethereum governance

Onchain governance type

No On-Chain Governance

What is Ethereum governance?

Ethereum operates similarly to Bitcoin through off-chain, informal governance. In this model, developers can submit protocol upgrades, dubbed Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs), on Ethereum's open-source GitHub repository. Core Ethereum developers then discuss new proposals, with additional input from the extended community. If approved by a majority vote, core developers merge the changes into the base code. To avoid complications post-merge, node operators must update their clients to the latest software.

Who regulate Ethereum in 2024?

On June 14, 2018, the U.S. SEC's Director of Corporate Finance, William Hinman, revealed that the SEC does not consider ether (ETH) to be a security.

"Based on my understanding of the present state of Ether, the Ethereum network and its decentralized structure, current offers and sales of Ether are not securities transactions."

SEC Chairman Jay Clayton later confirmed Hinman's analysis on Mar. 12, 2019, stating ether and similar cryptocurrencies do not fall under securities law. Clayton carried on to say that the Howey test framework, the test used by the SEC to determine if certain transactions qualify as "investment contracts," is not static. Therefore, digital tokens first defined as securities can shift to non-securities over time, depending on how they are managed and exchanged.

U.S. Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) chairman Heath Tarbert echoed the SEC's findings in Oct. 2019, adding that he views ether as a commodity.

“We've been very clear on bitcoin: bitcoin is a commodity. We haven't said anything about ether—until now. It is my view as chairman of the CFTC that ether is a commodity.”

While ether in its current state is not a security, U.S. regulators have not commented on the legality of Ethereum's crowdsale. But Chairman Clayton did mention that most initial coin offerings (ICOs) look like unregistered securities sales.

FAQ
1.What is the best app to store Ethereum?

Store Ethereum with Cropty cryptocurrency wallet by 3 simple steps:

  1. Download the app from the Apple AppStore or Google Play, or open your browser wallet.
  2. Create your Cropty wallet account with Face ID or Touch ID security options.
  3. Transfer ETH from external wallet.
2. How can I receive Ethereum?

Receive Ethereum to your Cropty wallet by QR-code, phone number, e-mail and nickname:

  1. Download the app from the Apple AppStore or Google Play, or open your browser wallet.
  2. Create your Cropty wallet account, set up a nickname.
  3. Click ‘Receive’ and follow the instructions.
3. How can I store Ethereum safely?

You can transfer your Ethereum holdings and store it safely with Cropty wallet. Cropty secures safety of your holdings through various verification options like using password, authenticator app, Face ID, Touch ID and backup codes. You can be sure no one can get access to you Ethereum holding except you.

4. How to start investing in Ethereum easily and securely?

Start investing in Ethereum with Cropty cryptocurrency wallet by 3 simple steps:

  1. Download the app from the Apple AppStore or Google Play, or open your browser wallet.
  2. Create your Cropty wallet account, set your authentication settings.
  3. Transfer ETH from external wallet.
5. Why should I choose Cropty to store and transfer Bitcoin?

The Cropty wallet provides the most convenient application for storing and transfering Ethereum. Cropty targets to become one the best crypto wallets for Android and iOS in 2024. Cropty provides convenient application and secure custodial services, built for crypto beginners, as well as for crypto-savvies.

6. How can I receive Ethereum as payment?

You can receive Ethereum as payment in Cropty wallet. It is a convenient mobile app to receive, store and transfer Ethereum ETH safely and instantly. Open Cropty app, click ‘Receive’, follow simple instructions and get your Ethereum holdings immediately.

7. How can I receive Ethereum donations?

You can receive Ethereum donations instantly with Cropty wallet. Download Android or iOS app or open the web version, sign up, click ‘Receive’ and follow simple instructions. Share your address with someone who wants to donate you in crypto.

8. Can I send Ethereum without verification?

You can receive Ethereum donations instantly with Cropty wallet. Download Android or iOS app or open the web version, sign up, click ‘Receive’ and follow simple instructions. Share your address with someone who wants to donate you in crypto.

9. How can I send Ethereum without fee?

You can send Ethereum instantly without fee in the Cropty wallet. Download Android or iOS app or open the web version, sign up, click ‘Send’, choose ‘Send via e-mail, phone number or nickname’ and follow simple instructions.

10. How to make money with Ethereum?
  1. Sign up to Ethereum wallet.
  2. Top up your balance with Ethereum.
  3. Store, trade or deposit your Ethereum.
  4. Get Ethereum deposit interest directly to your Cropty wallet.
USD to ETH converter
USD
$
ETH
coin
Ethereum Price statistic
Ethereum price today
Ethereum price
3 575.00 $
Price change (24h)
2.72% -99.90 $
Trading volume (24h)
22.34B $
Market Dominance
11.80%
Market rank
#2
Ethereum price history
All Time High
Nov 10 2021 (3 years ago)
26.55% 4 867.00 $
Ethereum Market Cap
Market Cap
431.77B $
Ethereum Supply
Circulating Supply
120.44M ETH
Cropty App
Download Cropty App for iOS and Android
google