Jun 3, 2026 · 25 min · 10 segments
Are you new to crypto? Well then, you’ve probably noticed that Ethereum is the second largest cryptocurrency, behind Bitcoin. But the two are very different beasts indeed, with Bitcoin being popular…
Yes, eight.
It was founded in 2013 and officially launched in 2015.
Now, in simple terms, this means the network is now secured by validators instead of miners.
And incidentally, this is also where ETH gets its value.
Validators secure the network by locking up or staking ETH.
In return, they earn a yield on that staked ETH along with network fees for validating transactions.
ETH is also used to pay gas fees, run smart contract functions and, of course, send money to other users.
On top of that, a small amount of ETH is burned, that is, removed from circulation, with every transaction, making it a scarcer asset over time.
Now, originally, Ethereum ran as a single blockchain handling everything on that one chain.
Over time though, it became clear it had hard scalability limits.
The more people used it, the slower and more expensive it became.
So to solve this, other blockchains were built on top of Ethereum's mainnet, known as Layer 2s or L2s.
Now, Layer 2s dramatically reduce fees, increase throughput and enable real-world apps to actually function at scale without sacrificing decentralization on the Ethereum mainnet.
Today, there are dozens of Layer 2 blockchains, each with their own capabilities.
Each component has its own role, but how they work together is what makes Ethereum the largest ecosystem in crypto.
Yes, eight.
It was founded in 2013 and officially launched in 2015.
Now, in simple terms, this means the network is now secured by validators instead of miners.
And incidentally, this is also where ETH gets its value.
Validators secure the network by locking up or staking ETH.
In return, they earn a yield on that staked ETH along with network fees for validating transactions.
ETH is also used to pay gas fees, run smart contract functions and, of course, send money to other users.
On top of that, a small amount of ETH is burned, that is, removed from circulation, with every transaction, making it a scarcer asset over time.
Now, originally, Ethereum ran as a single blockchain handling everything on that one chain.
Over time though, it became clear it had hard scalability limits.
The more people used it, the slower and more expensive it became.
So to solve this, other blockchains were built on top of Ethereum's mainnet, known as Layer 2s or L2s.
Now, Layer 2s dramatically reduce fees, increase throughput and enable real-world apps to actually function at scale without sacrificing decentralization on the Ethereum mainnet.
Today, there are dozens of Layer 2 blockchains, each with their own capabilities.
Each component has its own role, but how they work together is what makes Ethereum the largest ecosystem in crypto.
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