Ethereum is a decentralized open source blockchain featuring smart contract functionality. Ether (ETH) is the native cryptocurrency token of the Ethereum platform. It is the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, behind Bitcoin.Ethereum is the most actively used blockchain in the world.
Ethereum was proposed in late 2013 by Vitalik Buterin, a cryptocurrency researcher and programmer. Development was funded by a crowdsale that took place between July and August 2014 and the system went live on 30 July 2015, with 72 million coins premined. Ethereum has a decentralized replicated virtual machine, called the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), which can execute Turing-complete scripts and run decentralized applications. Ethereum has been utilized for many initial coin offerings and is also used in decentralized finance.