ethereum
Ethereum is a blockchain that runs programs rather than only recording payments, which is why most crypto applications are built on it.
In plain English
Bitcoin was designed to do one thing, which is to move value without a bank. Ethereum was designed to run code.
That difference is the reason almost everything else in crypto exists on top of it. Smart contracts, decentralised finance, stablecoins, non fungible tokens. Ethereum made the blockchain programmable, and programmability is what turned a payment ledger into a platform.
Its own token, ether, is used to pay for computation on the network. Every action costs a fee, sometimes called gas, and when the network is busy those fees rise, occasionally to absurd levels. A small transaction can cost more than the amount being sent, which tells you something about how far this technology is from serving ordinary people at scale.
The honest assessment is that Ethereum is genuinely interesting technology and its token is a speculative asset. Those are two different sentences and people constantly merge them.
The network could succeed enormously. The token could still fall 70 percent, and has, repeatedly.
If you hold it, hold what you can lose entirely, and hold it for years. And do not confuse admiring the engineering with a reason to buy the coin.
You send a small transaction during a period of network congestion and the fee costs more than the amount you were sending. The technology worked exactly as designed, and it was useless to you.
Questions people ask
What is gas?
The fee paid to execute an action on the Ethereum network. It rises when the network is busy, sometimes making small transactions uneconomic.
How is it different from Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is designed primarily to move value. Ethereum runs programs, which is why smart contracts, DeFi and most crypto applications are built on it.
Should I hold ether?
It is a volatile speculative asset. If you hold any, hold an amount you could lose entirely, and hold it for years rather than weeks.
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