Ethereum (ETH)
A blockchain that runs programmable smart contracts, with ether (ETH) as its native asset.
Ethereum is a blockchain that runs programs, not just payments. It launched in 2015. Where Bitcoin was built to move one asset around, Ethereum lets developers deploy code that executes on the network itself. Its native coin is ether, ticker ETH.
Those programs are called smart contracts. They are agreements written in code that run automatically when their conditions are met, with no company in the middle to process them. A lending app, a marketplace, a token swap: all of it can live as a contract on Ethereum. This is why it underpins so much of the wider cryptocurrency world.
Running that code costs money. Every action on the network carries a gas fee, paid in ETH, that compensates the computers doing the work. Busy periods push fees up; quiet periods bring them down. The fee depends on how much computation your transaction needs, not on how much value you are sending.
Ethereum changed how it secures itself in September 2022, in an upgrade known as The Merge. It dropped energy-hungry mining and switched to proof-of-stake, where participants lock up ETH to validate transactions instead of racing with hardware. That cut the network's energy use by over 99 per cent.
ETH is the second-largest crypto asset by value, behind Bitcoin. People hold it for three main reasons: to use applications, to pay gas, or to stake it for rewards. The price is volatile and can move sharply in either direction. Banxa has run as a regulated on-ramp since 2014, letting people buy ETH across 100-plus countries.