Ethereum in focus, the world's largest smart contract provider.
Ethereum is the token used to exchange for services and pay for gas fees on the ethereum blockchain. Developers can create Dapps, Decentralized apps ontop of the ethereum blockchain providing a large range of services and functions while having a stable foundation. It's a scalble network that rivals Bitcoin directly and is the closest contender.
Background
Ethereum was created by Vitalik Buterin, it was first written about in it's white paper in 2013, and was set live in July 2015. It allows developers to trade funds and fund their apps on the plattform without the need of a intermediary. Users and developers can create rules, or smart contracts, where funds are transactioned based on these rules, thus allowing for several use cases. The native coin to the network is used to pay for these favors, that coin being Ethereum.
Ethereum hasn't seen large value until fairly recently, it took the coin more than two years to reach 500$, that being done in 2017. Similarly as with bitcoin, ethereum has a set amount of tokens that will ever be minted. Also unlike with mining bitcoin, miners aren't rewarded with new coins when a block is created, instead miners are rewarded with the fees needed to perfrom each transaction. The more apps that are created and the more popular ethereum becomes, the more often transactions occur and thus making it mure lucrative to mine ethereum. However as much money as you get from ethereum, this will soon a be a thing of the past as the network is moving over to ETH2.0, which is proof of stake.
Network
Ethereum wouldn't be as strong as it is today without it's network behind it. But how does it work, and what can you do with the network? The ethereum network was the first crypto that allowed the creation of smart contracts for other developers. Code and coins can be committed to the blockchain in the form of smart contracts. Users can access decentralized apps (Dapps) on this network and perform actions through these smart contracts, allowing a interconnected network that allows different ecosystem to communicate with each other. The network is a tool that allows creation of new technology without the fear for censorship, downtime or fraud.
The basis of the network is written in the programming language C++, it also has a native programming langugae called Solidity. The source code was mainly written by Gavin Wood, the second co-founder of ethereum. The plattform can be described as "a computer for the entire planet". The most common use case for the network is the creation of tokens hosted on the ethereum blockchain. Today roughly 280.000 ethereum tokens, or ERC-20 for short, have been created. Out of the top 100 coins, roughly 40 of them are hosted on the ethereum blockchain, some of those are USDT, LINK & formerly BNB.
Use cases
The use for ethereum are as described previously, used mainly for the host of smart contract and also used to pay for gas. The gas is the cost of moving tokens and performing these smart contracts are always paid for in ethereum based on the gas price, or gwei. Different actions performed on the blockchain cost gwei, the price depends on the current load on the network. Even ERC-20 tokens cost ethereum to perform the same actions, meaning that ethereum holders and miners are rewarded the more the blockchain grows. Ethereum has also been one of the most lucrative coins to mine, even overtaking bitcoin for a period of time under 2021. With the incoming move over to proof of stake with the ETH2.0 network, the mining of coins will stop, however this enables staking of ethereum which will give an alternative to earn passive income through the network.
Ethereum today
Ethereum is still the second largest coin based on marketcap, with good margin. It's also taking almost 20% of the total current crypto marketcap, bitcoin holds hold 46% today. This leaves only 34% of the marketcap for the remainder of the coins. You can still be fairly sure that the price of the coin will grow by simply holding few coins. Miners can still earn the coin for confirming the transactions but the move over to ETH2.0 is still coming. There's also a healthy ecosystem hosted ontop of the ethereum blockchain. The coin is still growing and people expect it to overtake bitcoin's seat as the king of cryptos.