what is ether eth 
ether is a cryptocurrency used in ethereum s global virtual machine it has several uses it is used to pay network participants for their contributions to the blockchain investors use it as a store of value and traders use it to take advantage of price movements consumers can use it to pay for goods and services at businesses that accept it learn more about ether and how it acts as the fuel that powers the ethereum blockchain and network understanding ether eth the ethereum blockchain is a distributed ledger designed as a platform that makes it easier for people to create decentralized applications additionally it was created to remove third parties from global financial systems and transfer monetary control to the people instead of governments and businesses a distributed worldwide virtual computer hosts the platform and the blockchain it uses nodes the remote hosts a consensus layer an execution layer an application layer and participants who provide the equipment necessary for hosting the virtual machine the operational costs of maintaining a host and participating in the network and blockchain are minimal but the volunteer validators must stake valuable ether of their own to host nodes validators receive a chance to validate transactions and earn a reward for their work issued in ether eth ether also holds market value and is exchangeable for fiat currency on cryptocurrency exchanges ether is thus a native cryptocurrency investment asset and a means of exchange the developers and community metaphorically refer to ether as the gas that powers the network it is called gas because ether is exchanged for the work done to verify transactions and secure the blockchain much like money spent to buy the gas that powers a car 