Ethereum

Ethereum is a public network that executes contracts and maintains verifiable shared state. The Ethereum Virtual Machine applies contract instructions, while consensus determines which blocks belong to the chain. ETH is the native asset used for fees and participation in validation.

The network acts as both an execution environment and a settlement layer for certain scaling systems. A product should decide which operations run directly on Ethereum and which use another infrastructure, accounting for that infrastructure's dependencies and communication mechanisms rather than treating every environment as interchangeable.

Ethereum uses Proof of Stake. Transaction inclusion and block finality are different states that integrations should recognise. Confirmation policy depends on the action: displaying pending activity does not necessarily require the same threshold as releasing an asset from another system.

Transactions consume gas. The base fee is burned and the priority fee goes to the proposer; demand and resource usage influence cost. Applications need fee estimates, nonce management and detection of replacement or reverted transactions, rather than presenting each operation as a fixed price in euros.

Ethereum combines token standards, governance contracts and applications requiring verifiable rules between organisations. An issuance registry can define who may create units, transfer them or pause selected operations. The existence of the contract does not establish the legal nature of the asset.

Integration planning inventories contracts, oracles, wallets and indexers. Tests cover issuance, transfer and reconciliation with internal systems, including dependency failures. Retaining addresses, versions and events supports incident investigation and helps distinguish a display problem from an operation that actually executed on the network.

Running every interaction on the base layer may be costly for frequent operations. A layer 2 can reduce costs but adds sequencing, proofs, data availability and bridges that need network-specific assessment. Different systems do not inherit identical guarantees or withdrawal processes.

Selection also depends on required assets and services, contract administration and incident response capability. Ecosystem depth and established standards do not eliminate code defects, key risks or product restrictions. The architecture needs to connect operational requirements with verifiable rules and clear responsibility for each component.