A blockchain that runs programs as well as payments. Here is how it charges for computation, chooses who adds blocks and scales beyond its main chain.
Ethereum is a public blockchain that runs programs as well as payments. Here is what that means, how a transaction moves through the network, and what nobody can promise you about it.
Every action on Ethereum costs gas. This guide breaks the fee into its parts, works through real arithmetic, and explains why a failed transaction can still cost you money.
Staking is how Ethereum chooses who adds blocks. Here is what a validator does, how rewards and penalties are calculated, how the different ways to stake compare, and why no staking return is promised.
In August 2021 Ethereum stopped running a simple fee auction and started burning part of every fee. Here is the rule, the arithmetic behind it, and the claims about it that go further than the rule does.
Rollups run transactions off Ethereum’s main chain and post the results back to it. Here is how that works, where the savings come from, and which trust assumptions you take on when you use one.
Gas is the unit Ethereum uses to measure how much computation a transaction needs. The gas fee is that amount multiplied by a price per unit, paid in ETH.
A node is any computer taking part in a blockchain network. Full nodes check every block for themselves.
A smart contract is a program that lives on a blockchain and enforces its own rules automatically whenever someone sends it a transaction.
Staking means putting coins up as a deposit so you can help run a proof-of-stake blockchain. Follow the rules and you earn rewards; break them and part of the deposit can be destroyed.
A wrapped token is a stand-in: it represents another asset in a format a particular blockchain or app can use, while the original is held somewhere else.
Blocks, transactions, keys and fees: the moving parts every other topic builds on.
Supply schedule, mining, difficulty, Lightning and spot ETFs.
Stablecoins, exchanges without order books, liquidity pools and on-chain lending.
How analysts turn public ledger data into cost-basis, holder and flow signals — and where that breaks.
Spot versus derivatives, funding rates, open interest, liquidations and order books.
Risk, volatility, diversification, position sizing and market cycles for crypto beginners.
Custody choices, seed phrases, hardware wallets and the scams that target new users.
Ethereum keeps a shared ledger like Bitcoin, but it also runs small programs called smart contracts, and that changes almost everything else. Balances live in accounts rather than in unspent outputs, every action is priced in gas, and new blocks are proposed by validators who stake ETH rather than by miners. This section explains each of those pieces from first principles. Its main sources are the official ethereum.org documentation and the original improvement proposals, and it points out where popular claims about the network go further than its rules do.
If you have not read Blockchain Basics yet, start there. Then read these guides in order:
The gas, smart contract and staking glossary entries are quick refreshers on terms used throughout. Much of decentralized finance runs on Ethereum and networks built like it, so DeFi & Stablecoins is the natural next section. Before you connect a wallet to any app, read token approvals and wallet drainers, which explains a risk that comes with using smart contracts.
No staking return is promised. Validators can earn rewards, but they can also be penalised, and each way of staking adds its own risks, from software mistakes to trusting a third party with your ETH. The staking guide compares the options.
A rollup runs transactions away from the main chain and posts the results back to it, so many users share the cost of Ethereum’s block space. The rollups guide explains where the savings come from and what you trust in exchange.