Key takeaway
Ethereum is still the default smart-contract benchmark for DeFi, stablecoins, and tokenized activity despite increasing competition from faster chains.
Treat the research summary as context only. Execution risk, liquidity, custody, and jurisdiction still need a separate check before acting.
Key metrics
| Price | $2.35K |
|---|---|
| Market cap | $283.33B |
| 24h real volume | $19.62B |
| 24h change | 8.56% |
| Messari rank | 2 |
| Category | Networks |
| Sector | Smart Contract Platform |
How to frame this asset
- Messari rank #2 by tracked market cap.
- Price is up 8.56% over the last 24 hours.
- Real volume over the last 24 hours is about $19.62B.
- Tracked market cap is roughly $283.33B.
- Best for users comparing ecosystem depth, DeFi access, and long-term platform risk.
[Ethereum](https://ethereum.org/en/) is a distributed blockchain computing platform for [smart contracts](https://ethereum.org/en/smart-contracts/) and decentralized applications. The network enables users to build extensively through the use of smart contracts and has since led to the creation of various new assets and industries, such as Decentralized Finance (DeFi), Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), [Web3](https://ethereum.org/en/web3/), and more. It features an execution engine optimized for smart contract processing, the [Ethereum Virtual Machine](https://ethereum.org/en/developers/docs/evm/) (EVM), and a [Proof-of-Stake](https://ethereum.org/en/developers/docs/consensus-mechanisms/pos/#what-is-pos) (PoS) consensus mechanism.
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