Ethereum (ETH)

Ethereum (ETH) is the world's second-largest blockchain by market cap, launched in 2015 by Vitalik Buterin and others. It introduced programmable smart contracts to blockchain, enabling DeFi, NFTs, DApps, and thousands of tokens built on the ERC-20 standard.

Key facts

• Consensus: Proof of Stake (since September 2022)
• Block time: ~12 seconds
• Native token: ETH (used for gas fees)
• Smart contracts: Yes — Turing-complete via the EVM
• Mining: No longer possible (PoS since The Merge)

The Merge (September 2022)

Ethereum transitioned from Proof of Work to Proof of Stake in a event called The Merge. This ended GPU mining of ETH — one of the most significant events in mining history, as ETH had been the dominant GPU-mined coin for years.

After The Merge, GPU miners redirected hashrate to other coins: Ethereum Classic, Kaspa, Alephium, Ergo, and others.

Ethereum's ecosystem relevance to miners

Even though ETH itself can't be mined, Ethereum remains relevant to miners:

• Most DeFi tools and exchanges are on Ethereum or EVM-compatible chains
• Gas fees for swapping mined coins often involve ETH or ETH-based tokens
• ERC-20 tokens and BEP-20 wrapped assets of mined coins trade on Ethereum-based DEXes

See also

• Beacon Chain
• Ethereum Classic
• EVM
• DeFi