Chains & Infrastructure
Ethereum Chain: Proof of Stake, EIP-1559 Fees, USDC Routes
Ethereum is a proof of stake chain running since the Frontier genesis of 30 July 2015. Twelve-second slots and 32-slot epochs set its clock. Finality arrives through a supermajority link between checkpoints. A USDC transfer cost $0.0056 at current conditions on 11 September 2026. Nine issuer-listed stablecoins run natively.
| Fact | Value | As of | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Genesis block | Frontier, 30 July 2015, 3:26:13 PM UTC | C-06 | |
| Consensus | Proof of stake since the Merge, 15 September 2022, block 15,537,394 | C-04 | |
| Timekeeping | 12-second slots, 32 slots per epoch | C-04 | |
| Finality rule | Supermajority link between epoch checkpoints | C-04 | |
| Fee model | EIP-1559, protocol base fee plus tip | C-05 | |
| Conditions USDC transfer fee | $0.0056, then $0.0051 on a second same-day pull | C-07 | |
| Observed median USDC transfer fee | $0.21, batch-inclusive | C-07 | |
| Stablecoins on chain (provider) | $146,842,778,050 | C-10 |
What Ethereum is
Ethereum is the settlement layer most large stablecoin issuers started on. Its genesis is documented to the second. The ethereum.org history page records Frontier at 30 July 2015, 3:26:13 PM UTC [6]. That is block zero. The network has upgraded continuously since. The history page lists every dated step [6].
This page reads Ethereum from its own documents. Consensus and fees come from ethereum.org. Fee figures come from dated pulls against a public node. The roster lists only tokens the issuers themselves publish for Ethereum.
How consensus works
Ethereum runs proof of stake. It moved there at the Merge. The Merge landed 15 September 2022, 6:42:42 AM UTC, at block 15,537,394 [6]. Since then, validators stake capital and build blocks.
Time is divided into slots and epochs [4]. A slot lasts 12 seconds. An epoch is 32 slots [4]. One validator proposes a block in each slot. Others attest to it. The docs describe the full mechanics, including how dishonest validators lose stake [4].
What finality means here
Finality has a precise definition in the docs. A block finalizes when it sits in a chain with a supermajority link between two checkpoints [4]. Checkpoints occur at the start of each epoch [4]. An epoch is 32 slots at 12 seconds each.
The documentation states no minutes figure for finalization. This page does not derive one. Slot counts times slot seconds is arithmetic the reader can do. A derived number is not a documented number, and this site keeps them apart.
How fees work
Gas is the unit of work. Fees are paid in ether, ETH, quoted in gwei [5]. Since EIP-1559, the total fee splits in two [5]. A base fee, set by the protocol. A priority fee, the tip [5]. The docs state the split in exactly those terms [5].
Fees, measured
The library measures fees rather than quoting them. Two metrics, one date, one method. The pull date is 11 September 2026.
The conditions metric. Protocol base fee times simple-transfer gas. At a median base of 0.0547 gwei and 40,348 gas, a USDC transfer costs 0.0000022089 ETH [7]. At the same-session ETH price that is $0.0056 [7] [11]. A second pull, hours later, read 0.0507 gwei and $0.0051 [7]. The fee moved 7 percent inside one day. That is the metric’s nature.
The observed metric. What sampled transfers actually paid. The median across 40 USDC transfers was 0.0000826319 ETH, about $0.21 [7]. That sample is batch-inclusive. Exchange hot wallets pricing at 2 gwei dominate it [7]. Observed medians measure the traffic in the window, not the chain’s price floor.
A second provider checked the conditions leg. The Etherscan Gas Tracker read an average of 0.068 gwei against the pull’s 0.0547 to 0.0599 [8]. Same order, same quiet day. The USD figures use a same-session price from a market data provider [11]. That price is a conversion aid, not a chain fact.
The stablecoin economy
One provider’s chains table put all stablecoins on Ethereum at $146,842,778,050 on 11 September 2026 [10]. That figure is database-reported. It carries the provider’s own methodology. It is the largest single-chain stablecoin total in this library’s set.
The roster, and its exclusions
The roster lists tokens their issuers publish for Ethereum, addresses verbatim. Each address was cross-checked on an explorer API the same week [9].
| Token | Address, as the issuer publishes it |
|---|---|
| USDC, Circle [1] | 0xA0b86991c6218b36c1d19D4a2e9Eb0cE3606eB48 |
| USDT, Tether [3] | 0xdAC17F958D2ee523a2206206994597C13D831ec7 |
| Sky dollar, Sky | 0xdC035D45d973E3EC169d2276DDab16f1e407384F |
| DAI, Sky | 0x6B175474E89094C44Da98b954EedeAC495271d0F |
| PYUSD, PayPal | 0x6c3ea9036406852006290770BEdFcAbA0e23A0e8 |
| PAXG, Paxos | 0x45804880De22913dAFE09f4980848ECE6EcbAf78 |
| LUSD, Liquity | 0x5f98805A4E8be255a32880FDeC7F6728C6568bA0 |
| BOLD, Liquity | 0x6440f144b7e50D6a8439336510312d2F54beB01D |
| EURC, Circle [2] | 0x1aBaEA1f7C830bD89Acc67eC4af516284b1bC33c |
Provenance, stated. The Circle and Tether rows come from the issuers’ current address tables, captured fresh on 11 September 2026 [1] [2] [3]. The Sky, Paxos, and Liquity rows are issuer-published addresses banked by this project’s token verification packs. The explorer API confirmed each token’s name at the cross-check date [9].
Exclusions, stated with reasons. One savings wrapper token is an ERC-4626 vault share, not a transfer token, and stays off the roster. Tether’s gold token is excluded here as gold-page material, covered at gold-backed stablecoins. Three fiat tokens had no banked Ethereum address rows in the research set. They are omitted, not asserted absent.
Where this page sits
The chains hub holds the other networks carrying stablecoin flow. The USDC page and the USDT page hold the two largest tokens this chain carries. The Sky dollar page holds the token the roster lists third. The layer 1 versus layer 2 page places this chain as the settlement layer under the rollups. Every figure above carries its date, and the reviewed date moves when the documents move.
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