What is Ethereum

Ethereum is a blockchain network that produces ETH, its native asset, and supports smart contracts and decentralized applications. The material tracks Ethereum’s security model, transaction throughput, staking economics, and its role as a financial asset.

• Oct 2025 - Brad Gerstner said Ethereum and Solana each still process under 4,000 transactions per second.
• May 2026 - Ari Redbord said North Korea stole $1.5 billion in Ethereum and converted almost all of it within 72 hours.
• May 2026 - Ryan Sean Adams said Ethereum’s inflation was reduced from 20% per year to less than 1% per year.
• Jun 2026 - Will Price said a layer-2 (Lighter) achieved over 10,000 transactions per second using only about 1% of Ethereum’s blob space.
• Jun 2026 - Ryan Sean Adams said that if a single staker reaches 13% of total staked ETH, they could cause a major failure in consensus.
• Jun 2026 - Chris Berniski said ETH’s valuation depends on its dominance: if 95% dominant, it’s valued as money; if 65%, as a smart contract chain.