$ETH is a decentralized, open-source blockchain system that features smart contract functionality. It was proposed by Vitalik Buterin in late 2013 and went live on July 30, 2015. Ethereum's primary innovation is its ability to run smart contracts, which are self-executing contracts with the terms of the agreement directly written into code. These contracts are executed on the $ETH Virtual Machine (EVM), which runs on a global network of nodes.