Ether (ETH) is the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum blockchain. While "Ethereum" refers to the blockchain platform and network, "Ether" is the actual digital currency used within that ecosystem.
Uses of Ether
Gas Fees: ETH is required to pay for every transaction and smart contract execution on Ethereum. The fee is calculated as Gas Used × Gas Price.
Staking: Since The Merge, ETH can be staked to help secure the network and earn rewards (approximately 3-5% APR).
DeFi Collateral: ETH is the most widely used collateral in DeFi lending and borrowing protocols.
Store of Value: Many view ETH as a productive store of value — unlike Bitcoin, staked ETH earns yield.
ETH Supply
Unlike Bitcoin's fixed 21 million cap, Ethereum has no hard supply limit. However, since EIP-1559 introduced fee burning, ETH has become periodically deflationary — during high-activity periods, more ETH is burned in fees than created through staking rewards.
Denominations
ETH has smaller denominations: 1 ETH = 1,000,000,000 Gwei = 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 Wei. Gas fees are typically quoted in Gwei.