Ethereum - ETH

Ethereum wasn’t built by one genius in a basement, it was launched by a crypto dream team. It all started with Vitalik Buterin, who wrote the Ethereum whitepaper in 2013 at age 19. But turning a radical idea into a working platform? That took a crew.

Here’s the full squad:

• Vitalik Buterin – visionary, coder, still leads development
• Gavin Wood – wrote the first Ethereum implementation and invented Solidity
• Joseph Lubin – helped fund Ethereum, went on to launch ConsenSys
• Charles Hoskinson – shaped Ethereum’s legal and funding structure, later founded Cardano
• Mihai Alisie – co-founded Bitcoin Magazine with Vitalik, helped build the Ethereum Foundation
• Anthony Di Iorio – funded early dev and growth
• Amir Chetrit – early co-founder, exited early
• Jeffrey Wilcke – built one of Ethereum’s first clients (Go implementation)

Ethereum officially launched in July 2015, backed by one of the first-ever ICOs. The code was public. The foundation was set. And the rest? It pretty much reshaped the entire crypto world.

Ethereum did something no one else had done, it made blockchains programmable. With smart contracts, developers could build apps that run on-chain automatically, with no middlemen. That changed everything. From DeFi and NFTs to gaming and DAOs, Ethereum became the launchpad for a whole new internet economy.

It’s got the biggest dev community, the most tools, and the deepest ecosystem. If it’s happening in Web3, Ethereum probably started it, or supports it.

In 2022, Ethereum moved from Proof of Work to Proof of Stake (validators lock up ETH to secure the network), cutting energy usage by over 99%. It also introduced a burn mechanism that removes ETH from circulation over time, giving it serious long-term scarcity.

Ethereum isn’t done evolving either. It’s more than a blockchain, it’s a foundation for a decentralized future. And it just keeps leveling up.

Ethereum expanded the idea of what crypto could do. Instead of just sending and receiving value, it allowed anyone to build applications that run on-chain, enabling programmable money, trustless contracts, and decentralized innovation at global scale.

Here’s what it powers:

• Smart contracts: Code that executes itself. No third parties. No excuses.
• DeFi (Decentralized Finance): Borrow, lend, trade, and earn interest, all without a bank
• NFTs: Art, collectibles, digital assets with real ownership
• DAOs: Internet-native orgs with rules written in code
• Gaming and the metaverse: On-chain economies that are actually playable
• Stablecoins: Billions of dollars move across Ethereum every day via USDC, USDT, DAI, and others

If you’re using crypto for something other than just holding it, there’s a good chance Ethereum’s the engine underneath.

Ethereum is the home of tokens, having introduced the token standards (like ERC-20 and ERC-721) that the entire crypto industry now builds on. From stablecoins to governance tokens to NFTs, most of what people interact with in Web3 was made possible because Ethereum made it simple to create, issue, and interact with tokens at scale.

Some of the most well-known tokens on Ethereum:

• USDT (Tether) and USDC (Circle) – stablecoins with billions in daily volume
• LINK (Chainlink) – decentralized oracles for real-world data
• UNI (Uniswap), AAVE, MKR, LDO, and more – DeFi giants
• SHIB, PEPE, and other meme tokens (because yes, we still love a good degen moment)

There are hundreds of thousands of ERC-20 and ERC-721 tokens on Ethereum. It's the biggest sandbox in crypto, with the most liquidity, the most developers, and the most active users.
There’s no centralized exchange required, and your Bitcoin stays in your wallet until the moment you execute the swap. It’s trading made simple: secure, seamless, and always in your hands.

Whether you’re new to crypto or already yield farming in your sleep, buying and selling ETH is now ridiculously straightforward.

Here’s how most people do it:

• Centralized exchanges like Coinbase, or Binance let you trade ETH using fiat or crypto
• Decentralized exchanges (DEXs) like Uniswap or 1inch allow peer-to-peer swaps directly from your wallet
• Some wallets and fintech apps also offer built-in ETH trading features

But if you want a streamlined, secure, and all-in-one experience, Plus Wallet is the move.

With Plus Wallet, you can:

• Buy ETH instantly via card, bank transfer, or crypto
• Sell or swap ETH with full transparency on fees
• Access your portfolio, track performance, and interact with Ethereum dApps, all from one app

Whether you're stacking, spending, or swapping, Plus Wallet makes it easy, without sacrificing security or user experience.

Ethereum uses the account-based model, like a digital ledger for your wallet. Each address tracks its total balance, and transactions update that directly. It’s different from Bitcoin’s UTXO model, where each “coin” is like a separate chunk of value.

Why it matters: Ethereum’s model makes smart contracts and token interactions way easier to manage, especially when juggling multiple assets or triggering complex logic. It’s simpler, smoother, and built for apps, not just transactions.

Sending ETH is easy, but doing it safely means double-checking a few key things:

1. Make sure the receiving address is correct. (No “oops” allowed, blockchain transactions are irreversible.)
2. Confirm the wallet supports Ethereum (EVM-compatible).
3. Be aware of gas fees, they fluctuate based on network activity.

With Plus Wallet, you get:

• A smooth interface that flags errors before you hit “send”
• Network fee estimates before confirming
• Full transparency, no surprises

Whether you’re sending ETH to a friend, an exchange, or a hardware wallet, Plus Wallet makes it clear, clean, and fast.