How to Buy Ethereum (ETH) in Australia

Ethereum (ETH) is an open-source, programmable Layer-1 blockchain, and ETH is its native coin. Where earlier blockchains mainly recorded simple transfers, Ethereum was designed to run smart contracts: self-executing programs that carry out their instructions exactly as written, without a company or middleman in between. That turned the blockchain into a general-purpose platform that developers can build almost anything on.

The network runs the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), a shared computing environment that executes those smart contracts across thousands of nodes. On Digital Surge, ETH is categorised as a Layer 1 and smart-contract asset. It is Ethereum's own base-layer coin, not one of the ERC-20 tokens that are issued on top of the network.

• Chain: Ethereum is its own native Layer 1, so the network and the coin belong together.
• Consensus: Proof of Stake, adopted at The Merge in September 2022, where validators lock up ETH to help secure the chain.
• Proposed by: Vitalik Buterin, in a 2013 whitepaper, with a group of co-founders.
• Launched: the network went live in July 2015 with its Frontier release.
• ETH's role: paying the transaction fees, known as gas, that the network charges to process activity.

Who created Ethereum?

Ethereum was proposed by programmer Vitalik Buterin, who set out the idea in a whitepaper in 2013, and it was developed by a group of co-founders who joined the project soon after. The live network arrived in July 2015 with a release called Frontier. Buterin's aim was to take the core idea behind blockchains and make it programmable, so people could write their own applications rather than relying only on the fixed rules of a payment network.

How does the Ethereum network work?

Ethereum is a native Layer-1 blockchain that keeps a shared record of accounts, balances and the state of every smart contract. When you send ETH or use an application, the network runs the relevant code on the Ethereum Virtual Machine and updates that shared state. Since The Merge in September 2022, Ethereum has used Proof of Stake, where validators put up ETH as a stake to propose and check new blocks. This replaced the earlier mining-based system and sharply cut the network's energy use.

What is ETH used for?

ETH has one job that everything else depends on: it pays for gas, the fee charged to run a transaction or a smart contract on Ethereum. Beyond that, ETH is the coin people use to interact with the wide ecosystem built on the network, including decentralised finance (DeFi) apps, NFT marketplaces, stablecoins and decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs). Because so many other chains and tools are EVM-compatible, ETH and the standards around it sit at the centre of a large part of the wider crypto landscape.

What changed at The Merge?

The Merge, completed in September 2022, was the upgrade that moved Ethereum from Proof of Work mining to Proof of Stake. Instead of miners competing with hardware to add blocks, validators now secure the chain by staking ETH. The change is widely reported to have reduced Ethereum's energy use by more than 99 percent, while leaving existing balances and applications in place.

Things to consider before buying Ethereum

Ethereum can be volatile, and its value in AUD can rise or fall sharply over short periods, so the value of what you hold may change quickly. If you move ETH to your own wallet, you take on the responsibility of keeping your keys safe, and on-chain transfers generally cannot be reversed. This is general information only and not a recommendation, and it does not take your personal circumstances into account. Consider your own situation, do your own research, and speak to a qualified professional if you are unsure.

Why Buy Ethereum?

Many Australians hold Ethereum because it is the leading smart-contract platform, its native coin ETH is needed to pay gas and use applications on the network, and it sits at the centre of a large developer ecosystem spanning DeFi, NFTs and stablecoins. Digital Surge lets you buy ETH with AUD via PayID or bank transfer and offers Australian-based support. This is general information only and not a recommendation; consider your own circumstances before buying any cryptocurrency.

Buying Ethereum in Australia: the quick recap

To buy Ethereum in Australia on Digital Surge: create a free account, verify your ID, deposit AUD via PayID or bank transfer, then buy Ethereum. The whole process takes about five minutes, and your Ethereum is held safely in your Digital Surge wallet.

Learn more about Ethereum

For background on how Ethereum works, see the official Ethereum project site, the Ethereum whitepaper and Ethereum on Wikipedia. On Digital Surge you can see the live Ethereum price and ETH to AUD converter, see other coins in the Layer 1 category, or read what cryptocurrency is before you buy Ethereum in Australia.