Ethereum – Second largest Crypto Currency by market cap after Bitcoin.  Unlike Bitcoin, it is not a digital money, but a platform that takes blockchain’s attributes to a vast change of applications…. such as financial tools, etc. 

Ethereum can be used to code, decentralize, secure and trade about anything.  It allows developers to build using the Ethereum Blockchain.  Open Source like Bitcoin allowing anyone with internet to interact with the network.

Ethereum runs on smart contracts.. establishes terms of arrangement between parties like old fashioned paper contracts but they differ as they automatically execute without the need for an intermediary and without the need to know the identity of each participating party.

Ether is the cryptocurrency token used by the Ethereum Network, called ETH.

Users pay fees in ETH to execute smart contracts.  Fees are called “gas”.  If Bitcoin is digital gold, ETH is digital fuel.

Popular Ethereum based things are stablecoins (like DAI) valued pegged to the dollar), decentralized finances apps known as DeFi and other decentralized apps known as DAPPS.

Also just so you know, the most common NFT (non-fungible token) called ERC-721 is built on the Ethereum network. Remember that a NFT is a crypto token that is a verifiably unique entity. (more on that later – stay tuned)