ETHEREUM - ETH

Technology: Blockchain

Network: PoS - Proof of Stake

Company: Ethereum

Crypto: Ether (ETH)

Total Supply: 100+ Million

Founder: Vitalik Buterin

Transaction Cost: 20$ USD (On Average)

Target Market: Developers\SME

About: Ethereum is an open-source blockchain with smart contract functionality. Ethreum is run on a decentralized virtual machine designed to execute scripts and run apps. It is also used for decentralized finance (DeFi) and is the blockchain on which non-fungible tokens (NFTs) exist. Developers can use the platform to create cryptocurrencies and other digital applications which have led some people to copy its code to create their own version of Ethereum and name it something else.

A smart contract is much like a protocol whereby developers must adhere to certain principles and guidelines in order to participate in the creation of an app or crypto on the Ethereum network. If the code is not up to scratch then this leaves the door open for potential outside attacks to occur.

Currently, gas fees are fairly high.

The proposed Ethereum 2.0 is designed to split up the transaction throughput from around 15 transactions per second to tens of thousands of transactions per second by splitting up the workload into many blockchains running in parallel using a method referred to as sharding which would result in a consensus proof-of-stake blockchain.