February 4, 2023 35 min to read.

What is ETH Ethereum

What is ETH? Is a Ethereum a good investment? Which is better to invest Bitcoin or Ethereum? How does Ethereum make money?

Table of Content

1. What is Ethereum ETH
2. What is Ethereum (ETH) in simple terms
3. Who Created Ethereum
4. What is Ethereum Classic ETC
5. How to profitably buy and store Ethereum
6. The Best Ways to Make Money with Ethereum
• Method #1: ETH faucets
• Method #2: Trading and Copy Trading
• Method #3: Investing
• Method #4: Staking ETH 2.0
• Method #5: NFTs
7. How Ethereum Works: A Simple Language for Beginners
8. How smart contracts work
9. What is Ethereum 2.0
10. Is it worth buying or selling Ethereum today?
11. Bitcoin Prospects and Rate Forecast for 2022
12. Frequently Asked Questions
13. Where to buy Ethereum

What is Ethereum ETH?

Throughout the history of the crypto market, Bitcoin has remained the leader and during this time it has not changed much, this is plus or minus the same decentralized payment system as before. “Blockchain technology is capable of more” - this is how many community members began to think, one of which was Vitalik Buterin, the creator of the Ethereum platform . It is widely known for its ETH (Ether or ether) cryptocurrency, which confidently holds the 2nd place in terms of capitalization - something like silver in the world of digital assets.

Ethereum is a technology that's home to digital money, global payments, and applications. The community has built a booming digital economy, bold new ways for creators to earn online, and so much more. It's open to everyone, wherever you are in the world – all you need is the internet.

The main feature of Ethereum is smart contracts on the blockchain, the emergence of which laid the foundation for completely new sectors of the crypto market, including the most hyped crypto trend of 2021 - NFT. Ethereum is in the thick of things and is very important for the development of the entire industry, so its long-term prospects look more interesting than Bitcoin. Today we will take a closer look at what Ethereum is, what are its features and differences from Bitcoin, and what factors influence the ETHUSD exchange rate forecast.

What is Ethereum (ETH) in simple terms

Ethereum is a blockchain platform on which, using smart contracts, you can create tokens (including NFTs), decentralized online services and applications. The internal cryptocurrency of the platform is Ether (“ether” or ETH).

Simply put, Ethereum is the platform itself, and Ethereum is its cryptocurrency, which provides internal settlements. Although it will not be a big mistake to use any of the terms, because the ETH cryptocurrency stands for Ethereum almost everywhere. The Ethereum ecosystem includes hundreds of blockchain startups, powered by a worldwide distributed computer network:

Why do all these projects work with the Ethereum platform? It is the most popular blockchain with the ability to create smart contracts :

A smart contract or "smart" contract is an algorithm that allows you to automatically and without intermediaries conduct transactions on the Internet, as well as control their fair execution.

The Ethereum network with smart contract technology began operation on July 30, 2015, and several new areas of the crypto market began to develop on its basis:

• dApps are decentralized applications where data is not stored on a single server.
• DeFi is decentralized finance, a replacement for the traditional banking system.
• DAOs are decentralized autonomous organizations.
• DEXs are decentralized exchanges where you do not need to store money to trade.
• NFTs are digital objects that have a certified original on the blockchain.

It also turned out that with the help of smart contracts it is convenient and not very expensive to create tokens - digital assets, analogues of stocks and goods. They can be sent and received over the Ethereum network, so there is no need to spend resources on developing a separate blockchain. Today, several thousand such tokens have been issued, for example, the most popular stablecoin Tether USD (USDT) is pegged to the US dollar and Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) is pegged to Bitcoin.

Who Created Ethereum

The idea of ​​a blockchain platform for smart contracts was first introduced in 2013 by Vitalik Buterin , a programmer of Russian-Canadian origin. He was introduced to cryptocurrencies in 2011 and was a co-founder of Bitcoin Magazine, one of the first printed publications on crypto topics.

For the sake of working on blockchain projects, he dropped out of studies at the Canadian University of Waterloo. Today Vitalik is a billionaire and the main public figure in Ethereum, his words and actions can change the course of ETH no worse than Elon Musk. This happens infrequently, but with great consequences: for example, when fake news about Buterin’s death appeared in 2017, the ETHUSD price collapsed by 15% in a day and 40% in a week.

The co-founders of Ethereum are also considered:

• Gavin Wood - proposed and developed the Solidity language for programming smart contracts. He left Ethereum in 2016 and later created the Polkadot and Kusama blockchains.
• Charles Hoskinson is the founder of Cardano, a popular cryptocurrency and smart contract platform. He left the project in 2014 after disagreements with Buterin over the future of Ethereum.
• Joseph Lubin  is the co-founder of several blockchain companies, including EthSuisse (the Swiss company behind the Ethereum platform). In 2015, he founded ConsenSys, a blockchain software development company.
• Anthony Di Iorio is one of the first sponsors of Ethereum. CEO of Decentral, which develops the Jaxx crypto wallet. Recently announced his exit from the crypto business.
• Mihai Alisi  – helped establish the Ethereum Foundation in Switzerland and developed the legal framework for the initial sale of the Ether cryptocurrency in 2015.
• Amir Chetrit  - worked with Buterin on colored coins (tokens that represent real-life assets - stocks, precious metals, real estate, etc.). In June 2014, he left the project due to "insufficient contribution".
• Jeffrey Wilk - helped with programming at the initial stage, worked at Mastercoin before Ethereum. Today he works on the creation of games in Grid Games.

As you can see, all of the original founders left the project before the platform launched in 2015 or a year or two later. Gavin Wood and Charles Hoskinson eventually created the Polkadot and Cardano blockchains that are popular today, but they failed to catch up with Ethereum in popularity.

What is the difference between Bitcoin and Ethereum: Bitcoin and Ethereum are both cryptocurrencies, but they serve different purposes. Bitcoin was created as a decentralized digital currency to allow for peer-to-peer transactions without the need for intermediaries. It is often seen as a store of value, like digital gold. On the other hand, Ethereum was created to be a decentralized platform that allows developers to build and deploy decentralized applications (dApps). It also has its own cryptocurrency called Ether (ETH), which is used to pay for transactions and computational services on the network. In short, Bitcoin is primarily used as a currency, while Ethereum is used as a platform for decentralized applications and smart contracts.

What is Ethereum Classic ETC

At the start, the Ethereum project did well, during the ICO (initial sale of cryptocurrency) in 2014, it managed to raise about $18 million. The full-fledged work of the blockchain began in 2016 after the Homestead update, where developers began to give security guarantees. Unfortunately, due to a bug in the code of one of the blockchain projects, hackers managed to steal $50 million, which seriously damaged the reputation of Ethereum. The community, by voting, came to the decision to return the stolen funds to the owners through the rollback of operations, which contradicted one of the basic principles of cryptocurrencies - the irreversibility of money transfers.

Because of the dangerous precedent, the Ethereum community is divided into two camps. Those who were against the changes stayed on the original version of the blockchain, now called Ethereum Classic (ETC). The development of the ETC cryptocurrency over the years has become increasingly different from Ethereum. For example, ETC will not abandon mining, following its philosophy of preserving the original idea of ​​​​cryptocurrency. Developers are looking for other ways to improve the speed and scaling of classic Ethereum, but in the end it remains in the shadows, and the prices of ETH and ETC began to differ dozens of times:

The decision to hard fork (split the blockchain into several versions) turned out to be successful in the end. Ethereum no longer suffered from such major hacker attacks, the project's reputation returned to normal. Today, there are other difficulties: the explosive growth in the popularity of the Ethereum platform has led to scaling problems and high fees on the network.

How to profitably buy and store Ethereum

To use Ethereum for payments or earnings, you need to purchase it somewhere.

On many services, you can also store cryptocurrency. Here are some examples of websites and apps that support cryptocurrency purchases, wallets, and passive income in the form of staking or deposits (in % per annum):

Briefly about each of the options:

• Binance is the most popular cryptocurrency exchange. You can both earn Ethereum on it (trading, staking), or simply store and, if necessary, make exchanges with a minimum commission. Cashback is available upon registration via an affiliate link.
• Trustee Wallet is a popular mobile wallet with a Russian interface. It is possible to buy cryptocurrencies through a card and payment systems, as well as exchange.
• ExchangeSumo - monitoring of exchangers , where you can find the best exchange rate for Ethereum and dozens of electronic currencies. After the exchange, you can get a good cashback up to 0.5-1% of the amount.
• AdvCash is a popular electronic payment system where you can buy cryptocurrencies, store them, and open crypto deposits.
• Bitzlato is a p2p platform where you can buy cryptocurrency directly from other users, including for cash.
• ETH_CHANGE_BOT - telegram bot from Bitzlato, a handy thing.
• Ledger is a brand of hardware wallets that are classified as "cold". They only connect to the Internet when they need to, so they are nearly impossible to hack from the outside.

The choice of the best wallet depends entirely on your goals: if you want to invest large sums for the long term, it is better to purchase a cold wallet, you need regular international transfers - it is more convenient to use an application or an EPS, the level of protection is not important - an exchange will do.

The Best Ways to Make Money with Ethereum

Method #1: ETH faucets

Let's start with a way to earn money, which does not require any investment at all. There are many sites on the network that allow you to get Ethereum for free, they are called cryptocurrency faucets . Here are some of them:

If you regularly visit these sites, a good amount will gradually accumulate. In addition, you do not need to spend money to buy cryptocurrency. Also, some sites have various tasks and paid surveys:

Method #2: Trading and Copy Trading

Cryptocurrencies are a great tool for speculation, their prices can change by tens of percent per day. Ethereum has now become calmer due to its large capitalization, but still offers more opportunities for traders compared to traditional types of assets. You can trade ether in different ways, but it is most convenient to do this on cryptocurrency exchanges , where the largest selection of trading pairs, low commissions, and you can use leverage to increase earnings several times. Another plus of crypto exchanges is the return of trading commissions:

Keep in mind that for successful trading it is very important to have a theoretical background and some trading experience. Do not look at trading as an easy way to make money - you will fail quickly. For training, use money that you don’t mind losing and regard losses as tuition fees. The profitability of your trading as a result should significantly exceed the profitability of the portfolio of 50% BTC + 50% ETH, otherwise it is better to choose passive investment.

Method number 3: Investing

Trading is much more complex and risky than investing. At the same time, the profitability of cryptocurrencies over a long distance can be very large, so the way to earn money to drink and hold , or in local slang HODL (hold on for dear life - hold on with all your might) also works great. For example, in 2021, the ETHUSD exchange rate increased by more than 400%, and in the period from 2019 to 2021 - 3600%! Of course, history will not necessarily repeat itself, but the potential is still huge.

In my investment portfolio, Ethereum occupies about 3% and at the moment I consider ether one of the most promising among popular cryptocurrencies in terms of expected return / expected drawdown . The demand for it is already high and will continue to grow with the development of NFTs, DeFi, dApps and other areas of the crypto market, while the supply will decrease during the transition to Ethereum 2.0.

The contribution of Ethereum to this result is not the largest, but significant. To diversify investment risks, I also use Bitcoin , Cardano , Solana and other cryptocurrencies.

Method #4: Staking ETH 2.0

One of the most important innovations in Ethereum 2.0 is the possibility of ethereum staking , which has come to replace mining. To start it on your own, you need to block at least 32 ETH, as well as independently launch and configure the validator node according to the instructions, which will support the operation of the Ethereum network. Quite difficult conditions, but they can be circumvented if you participate in joint staking - when investors' money is pooled through some kind of platform. For example, I use ETH 2.0 staking through the Binance crypto exchange under the following conditions (click on the image to enlarge):

The downside of staking Ethereum now is that the funds will be locked up until the Shard Chains update, which can take anywhere from a few months to a couple of years. In my opinion, Ethereum can be blocked without problems for such a period, after all, today it is one of the main cryptocurrencies and it is not in danger of depreciation. In general, the HODL strategy in all its glory, only with additional passive income :

By the way, since the profitability of staking is calculated in ETH, with an increase in the ETHUSD rate, the profitability of investments in dollars will grow even faster:

• Growth of the ETHUSD rate by 50%: yield in USD 5% * 1.5 = 7.5% per annum;
• Growth of the ETHUSD rate by 100%: yield in USD 5% * 2 = 10% per annum;
• 200% increase in the ETHUSD rate: yield in USD 5% * 3 = 15% per annum.

Of course, when the cryptocurrency rate falls, the dollar yield will also fall, but less than without staking. Therefore, if you believe in the prospects of ether, this way of earning will help to significantly improve the result of long-term investment.

Method #5: NFTs

NFT (non-fungible tokens) has become the main trend of the cryptocurrency market in 2021. The number of diverse collections released by media personalities, organizations, gaming platforms is already in the thousands and is constantly growing. Many NFT marketplaces operate on the Ethereum blockchain and allow you to pay for collections in this cryptocurrency:

NFT is a digital fragment that is verified on the blockchain, that is, it has the original. It can be copied, but without an electronic signature, it will have no value – just like a photograph of the Mona Lisa is worth nothing compared to a real portrait in the Louvre. True, the popular NFT evokes mixed feelings in me: on the one hand, it seems to be art, and on the other hand, it is some kind of crap, for which such money is made:

And yet, as NFT changes in price, it is possible to make money on this. I haven't tried it myself, but the hype around them is not inferior to cryptocurrencies, so there are definitely enough opportunities.

How Ethereum Works: A Simple Language for Beginners

The principles of operation of the Ethereum blockchain are described in as much detail as possible in the White Paper. The document is large and complex, so in my article I will try to talk about how Ethereum works from the point of view of an ordinary user.

Ether, like any digital currency, is stored as a record with the amount (a unit of currency - ETH) and the address of the owner (40 characters long):

Ether can be sold and bought for real money - in the screenshot the rate is $ 3778 for 1 ETH. Access to money can be obtained through the crypto wallet – applications for receiving and sending Ethereum. At the end of the article, you will find several examples of such applications with different levels of protection. To send money, you need to specify the recipient's address and the amount of cryptocurrency:

You can usually send any amount, but you need to take into account the size of the commission, which is often called "gas" (from the English gasoline, fuel). In the example above, it is $11.43. In general, this is a lot, but since the commission does not depend on the size of the transfer, with amounts from 1 ETH, it is already several times less than with a similar transfer via SWIFT.

The Ethereum platform works on the basis of blockchain technology (from the English "chain of blocks"), a special type of database where information is stored in blocks interconnected using mathematical algorithms and cryptography. After entering the blockchain, the data cannot be changed and is stored forever – this allows you to reliably protect users' money. By the way, all the information in the Ethereum blockchain is publicly available and can be viewed through the etherscan.io website. For example, here is the very first block:

If you have an Ethereum wallet, on this site you can check the balance and find the transaction history, for example, for me it looks like this:

In this way, you can confirm that your transfers have really passed and are stored in the blockchain. I have already written more about how the blockchain works in the guide to cryptocurrencies for beginners, I do not want to repeat myself. The only thing worth mentioning is that now the Ethereum network, similar to the Bitcoin network, works at the expense of miners using the Proof-of-Work consensus algorithm:

• Block formation time — 10-15 seconds;
• Reward — 2 ETH.

In general, at the development stage, Ethereum adopted a lot from Bitcoin, but the developers did not simply copy the ideas of the first cryptocurrency, but were able to add a unique tool at that time – smart contracts on the blockchain.

How smart contracts work

Blockchain can be used not only for the operation of cryptocurrencies, it can store any information. Smart contracts use this opportunity to save the terms of transactions and automatically execute them. Here's an example from the insurance industry:

1. A "smart" insurance contract is signed by the parties and stored in the blockchain.
2. An event occurs that is prescribed in the insurance contract.
3. Contract execution starts automatically.
4. Funds are paid according to the conditions defined in advance.

Due to the fact that the contract cannot be forged or changed, there is no need to meet in person or use the guarantor. For example, this is already actively used in the field of decentralized finance (DeFi), where you can get loans and place deposits without an intermediary in the form of a bank, and therefore on more favorable terms. Smart contracts guarantee that the parties to the transaction will not be deceived – by eliminating the human factor.

The emergence of hundreds of services and applications using smart contracts has led to a high load of the Ethereum blockchain and problems with scaling the network. Most of all, users and developers complain about the growing commissions: it has become unprofitable to send small amounts, which hinders the growth of applications and the entire Ethereum market. To expand the capabilities of the network, there has been a gradual transition to the second version of the blockchain for several years.

What is Ethereum 2.0

Ethereum 2.0 is a set of changes to the blockchain in order to make it more scalable, reliable and environmentally friendly. In the simplified migration scheme, there will be three stages:

The first phase of Beacon Chain began on December 1, 2020 with the launch of a prototype of a new version of Ethereum. The main change is the change in the consensus algorithm from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake. In other words, the rejection of mining (cryptocurrency mining on video cards) and the addition of staking (analogous to crypto deposits). Stakers will be able to maintain the operation of the Ethereum network for a fee without large expenditures of electricity. A new condition for participation is a temporary blocking of 32+ ETH in a crypto wallet (with the possibility of earning several % per annum in ETH) or participation in a staking pool.

The second stage of Merge is expected in 2022. Beacon Chain will dock with the main network and Ethereum will finally switch to Proof-of-Stake. Also at this time, work will begin on sharding - a technology for distributing the load on the blockchain between several independent hooks (64 "shards" will be launched)

The third stage of Shard Chains is expected in 2023 – active testing and implementation of sharding. As a result, this technology will significantly increase the scalability and speed of the network, which means that it will lead to an increase in the popularity of projects on the Ethereum blockchain and increase the demand for the Ether cryptocurrency.

The transition to Ethereum 2.0 is a complex process and will last several years. The stated deadlines will almost certainly be shifted more than once, but eventually the blockchain will move to the next level of development and far surpass the capabilities of Bitcoin.

Is it worth buying or selling Ethereum today?

Ethereum began trading on crypto exchanges in 2015 and was then worth less than $ 1. At the end of 2021, the average monthly return on investment in ETH would be about 50%! True, at the same time there were periods of falling prices up to 90%, so to call simple and unstrenuous earnings on Ethereum the language will not turn.

The price of ether changes constantly and it is not a fact that today is the best time to buy or sell. Before the transaction, it is necessary to assess the current situation, for this I use several tools. The first of these is the technical analysis widget.

One theory for predicting stock prices says, "History repeats itself." This means that based on the history of quotations, you can develop working strategies for earnings. This is the meaning of technical analysis, which helps to predict the movement of prices with the help of indicators - mathematical formulas. Today, technical analysis gives the following conclusions on the ether:

The widget evaluates data from more than 20 indicators and on their basis gives its verdict from "Sell" to "Buy". In the first case, there is a bullish trend in the market and it is worth considering buying Ethereum, in the second the trend is bearish - it is better to refrain from buying and look for opportunities for sale.

Another indicator that I use to assess the situation is the ratio of bitcoin and ether prices:

Strong altcoins, which undoubtedly include Ether, have historically overtaken Bitcoin in terms of growth rates. Therefore, when the ETHBTC ratio is significantly below the highs , this is a good time to buy, since there is a lot of growth potential. Conversely, when ETHBTC storms historical highs, it is better not to make purchases – the potential for price growth has already been largely realized.

Cryptocurrencies have almost no "cost", so they depend more than any other type of asset on their popularity. While no one knew about the broadcast, it cost a penny, and now it is a completely different conversation - the media constantly write about it, hundreds of bloggers shoot videos and even documentaries. All this constantly attracts new investors. There are periods when the ether becomes "hype" and the frequency of mentions increases many times more than usual - at such moments prices react with a large increase.

To understand whether there is an increased popularity of Ethereum today, I use Google Trends:

The higher the value of the popularity index, the more people will want to buy Ethereum – and this can be used. Also, if the value has risen sharply, it may be a temporary hype due to important news, in such a situation it is necessary to consider profit taking. Well, if the value remains low, then the cryptocurrency has been forgotten and this is a good time to buy ether.

Ethereum Exchange Rate Forecast for 2022

Speaking about the prospects of Ethereum for 2022 and beyond, it is worth mentioning several important factors:

• Macroeconomics. The capitalization of the cryptocurrency market has reached several trillion dollars, so the degree of influence of macroeconomic factors on their rate (especially bitcoin and ether) should not be underestimated. 2022 promises to be not the easiest for risky assets due to the planned increase in the Fed's interest rate to 1% - even news without real action has already led to the growth of the dollar and the fall of cryptocurrencies. In turn, high inflation, on the contrary, increases interest in crypto - people trust fiat currencies less.
• Updates. Ethereum continues to move towards the introduction of version 2.0, which will allow you to abandon mining and increase network bandwidth. The implementation of the plan will be a great achievement and will further increase interest in cryptocurrency, including among startups using alternative blockchains due to lower fees and high speed of work. However, the transition process has been going on for several years and is clearly being delayed. In December 2021, the Kintsugi testnet was launched to verify the merger of the Proof-of-Work and Proof-of-Stake blockchains, and a full transition to version 2.0 is expected in 2023. 
• Tokenomics. After the London update in August 2021, a mechanism for burning Ethereum appeared – part of the miners' rewards is now destroyed irretrievably. Also, after a full transition to the PoS algorithm, the reward will be several times lower than now, and due to staking, a large amount of ether will be blocked (each validator must have at least 32 ETH). As a result, we will get a noticeable decrease in supply in the long term, which, with stable demand, already gives good conditions for price increases.
• Use of cryptocurrency. You can talk a lot about updates and pricing, but cryptocurrency will grow in price only when its scope of application really grows. Ethereum has no problems with this: on the basis of its blockchain and smart contracts, hundreds of startups are developing in various fields.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to buy Ethereum?

How to buy ethereum

Estimated Cost

$0

Estimated Total Time

5 min

What is necessary:

ID Card

E Mail

Phone Number

Payment Method

Tool: A cryptocurrency market.

Compare Cryptocurrency Markets

Find an exchange that lists ETH in one or more cryptocurrency pairings. Then sign up with your email address and password. Compare exchanges when buying ETH to find the lowest fees and the latest exchange rates. Note: Many exchanges require your full name, contact information, and ID before allowing you to trade.

Create an account

To create an account with an exchange, you must verify your email address and identity. Have your photo ID and phone ready.

Make Payment

If your exchange supports Ethereum, you can buy ETH directly with dollar, euro, pound or any other currency of your choice. Some exchanges charge commission fees that vary depending on the amount of ETH you buy, so be mindful of the cost of your transaction. Note: Some payment methods have higher fees and credit card payments are usually the most expensive.

ethereum buy

Select your chosen exchange to find the ETH match you want. Go to the markets section. Look at the buy ETH section and type in the amount of paired cryptocurrency you want to spend or the amount of ETH you want to buy. Note: Before completing the transaction, carefully review your transaction details, including the amount of Ethereum you purchased and the total cost of the purchase.

Where to buy Ethereum