Ethereum ¹

What is Ethereum?

The chain that matters. While "Ethereum killers" come and go, Ethereum remains the settlement layer for crypto — where real value lives, DeFi was born, and L2s post their proofs. Post-EIP-4844, it's no longer trying to be fast or cheap; it's the neutral, credible base layer that everything else builds on.

Best for: Blue-chip DeFi, high-value transactions, NFT originals, being the canonical source of truth.

Technical: The original smart contract chain and backbone of web3, now optimized as a settlement layer for L2s.

• Security: Most decentralized L1 with thousands of validators, battle-tested since 2015.
• Ecosystem: Largest by far — all major DeFi, most developers, deepest liquidity.
• Performance: ~15 TPS on L1, but L2s handle volume. EIP-4844 blobs reduced L2 costs by 90%+.
• Use Cases:
  • DeFi headquarters: Uniswap, Aave, MakerDAO, Curve — the originals with deepest liquidity
  • L2 settlement: All major L2s (Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, zkSync) post proofs here
  • Staking economy: 30M+ ETH staked, Lido alone manages $34B+
  • NFT bluechips: CryptoPunks, BAYC, Art Blocks — provenance matters
  • Institutional entry: ETH ETFs, regulated custody, enterprise deployments
• Trade-offs:
  • Gas fees still high for complex operations ($5-50+ during congestion)
  • Slow by design — 12-second blocks, conservative upgrades
  • Not for micropayments or high-frequency trading (use L2s)

Contract Languages