This post was originally published in [2021] and has been fully updated for 2026 with new data and tools.
If you’ve looked at your portfolio recently and felt confused, you aren’t alone.
Many investors are still asking, “What is the difference between ETH and ETH2 on Coinbase?” and whether they need to swap their coins.
The short answer is that they represent the same asset, but one is staked to earn rewards while the other remains liquid.
Eth and Eth2 on Coinbase are technically the same thing.
Keep reading, and I’ll share how proof of stake is different than proof of work.
I’ll share what sharding will bring and what eWASM is. Lastly, I’ll share how you can earn money with this change and 1 controversy with it.
ETH Staking Calculator
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*Calculated at an estimated 3.1% APY. Actual Coinbase rates vary. Rewards are paid in “ETH2” (Staked ETH).
From Mining to Staking: 3 Massive Ways Ethereum Has Changed Since 2021
A large change was The Merge.
Ethereum changed from proof of work to proof of stake to reduce energy consumption by 99.95%
By 2026, most users don’t operate on the Ethereum mainnet; they use a layer 2 that offers instant transactions for pennies.
In 2024 Etherium introduced “Blobs,” which made it much cheaper to play on the network.
Today Etherium is focused on making things EVEN faster and to run an Ethereum node on a mobile phone using “Verkle Trees.”
The Real Difference Between ETH and ETH2 on Coinbase: Do You Need to Swap?
They are the same thing.
Eth2 on Coinbase represents staked Ethereum. Eth is stuff you can spend.
You don’t need to swap Eth for Eth2. If someone says you need to do this, it might be a scam.
The Future of Ethereum: What Happens After The Surge and The Verge Upgrades?
Ethereum is going through an upgrade! This upgrade includes multiple steps and will take years to complete.
Step 1: The first step is the Beacon chain that went live on December 1, 2020. This chain will run parallel to the Ethereum blockchain.
The only thing you can do on this Beacon chain is stake Ethereum on it so you can become a validator.
Step 2: Introduces sharding.
Step 3: Brings the Beacon chain into the Ethereum 2.0 blockchain as its own shard.
Step 4: The entire update should be complete.
It’s estimated that the full completion of Ethereum 2.0 will happen sometime in 2022, but nobody knows for sure.
The 1 question engineers HATE to be asked is when something will be finished!
With your Ethereum, you have 2 choices.
- Stake the Ethereum and become a validator.
- Do nothing, and your Ethereum will automatically be converted to Ethereum 2.0.
Proof of Work vs. Proof of Stake: How Much Energy Does Ethereum Actually Save?
Perhaps one of the largest changes from the upgrade is that Ethereum 2.0 will have proof of stake.
In theory, proof of stake is going to be more scalable and introduce reduced transaction fees and faster transactions.
With a blockchain, MANY people have to agree that a block is accurate, and this is called consensus. Every person who agrees on it has to have SOME skin in the game.
Without skin in the game, it’s easy for someone to lie because they have “nothing” to lose. Bitcoin started with proof of work because Bitcoin wasn’t worth anything when it was started.
You can’t stake Bitcoin if they are worth “nothing.”
Since time is money, proof of work made sense. With proof of work, someone’s computer had to solve a complicated puzzle, and if they solved it, then they would get to add the block to the blockchain and get the Bitcoins.
All the nodes HAVE to agree that the block is correct, and if it’s NOT, say someone produces a faulty set of transactions on the blockchain, it forks into 2, and ALL the computers continues to build on the longest chain.
To prevent 1 supercomputer from creating blocks and lying on who gets what money, Bitcoin increases its difficulty based on how much computing power is attached to the network.
It’s TOO difficult and expensive for 1 person to take over the network and lie about where the money goes. There is a theory that proof of work was originally created to fight email spam.
If someone sends an email, they have to first solve this puzzle a little inconvenient for a normal person. If someone spams tons of email it is too difficult. Hope this makes sense, this was the theory, at least.
Proof of stake does the same thing, except you’re locking up crypto. If someone tries to break the rules, some of the cryptos they staked will be lost (they have skin in the game).
Without skin in the game from staking money or spending time, “there would be NOTHING to lose from trying to cheat.”
Proof of stake can be faster, but proof of work can be more secure.
There is a debate on the environmental impact of both. Inflation is usually higher for proof of stake, oh, and there are coins usually minted and given out before launch with proof of stake.
Oh, and MOST cryptocurrencies don’t have slashing enabled because investors don’t like the idea that their stake will be reduced.
There are also other security concerns with proof of stake, such as nodes can store the blockchain in the cloud of Amazon, for example.
The Truth About Sharding: How Ethereum Scaled Without Fragmenting the Network
With a blockchain, every node has to store the entire blockchain. They also have to help process all the transactions. This is very secure, but do you see a problem?
Yeah, it’s slow!
It’s similar to 10 people trying to figure out a complex math program. Sharding is similar to each person hiring 10 other people, and each person figures out a part of the math program.
Do you see how this is faster?
With sharding, the blockchain data is split into pieces, and each node works with 1 piece. Nodes can process different transactions in parallel.
Instead of you trying to eat an entire pizza, you only have to eat 1 slice each day!
The security is handled because nodes are grouped together to form the blockchain. There are a few of these groups, so if 1 node disappears, another group has the blockchain.
Yes, it’s complicated, and more things can go wrong (which is why I like Bitcoin because it’s simple).
The benefit of sharding is SPEED. More transactions can take place faster, and more people can use the blockchain without waiting.
Beyond the EVM: How eWASM is Upgrading Ethereum Smart Contract Performance
On Ethereum 1.0 the system that helps put smart contracts on the blockchain is EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine). eWASM is the same thing, but just better, faster, and will be in Ethereum 2.0
It’s important for this programming language to be faster to help with scale and to serve MORE people with Ethereum.
This link HERE is the EASIEST article I have found that explains the differences and what they do (it’s still confusing).
Is Running an Ethereum Validator Still Profitable? 3 Benefits for 2026 Stakers
One way you can earn money with this whole update to Ethereum 2.0 is to become a validator. The problem is that you first have to move your Ethereum 1.0 to the Beacon chain.
You can’t take your Ethereum out of the Beacon chain until Ethereum moves to step 2.
Considering how complicated Ethereum is, and this is “brand new,” locking your Ethereum on an experimental blockchain is risky.“
Now, if you fully believe in Ethereum, then maybe you want to lock up some Ethereum and never think about it.
Another negative with staking Ethereum is that you have to be a validator and operate a node. This ALL requires hardware, electricity, maintenance, and MOST importantly, time.
OH, and let’s not forget you need 32 Ether to be a validator. At the time of this blog post, that is around $125,000. You just want to check 5 times at least that you do EVERY step right, so you don’t LOSE your $125,000.
Losing $125,000 sure would suck “BIG TIME.”
The good news is that there is a way to join a pool if you don’t have 32 Ether, and you can learn more about these pools by clicking on the link HERE.
Being a validator does take time, and if you’re offline, you could get penalized. You probably want a backup energy source and a backup internet connection.
You also probably want a good second computer that is just for being a validator.
To learn how to be a validator on Ethereum, you can click on this link HERE.
Conclusion to Difference between ETH and ETH2 on Coinbase?
Ethereum is a controversial cryptocurrency due to its being Turing-complete. Turing complete is a program that can run and never stop.
Basically, it’s complicated, and MORE things can go wrong.
Many DEFI projects are on Ethereum, but I know of one that is built on Bitcoin. What I like about Bitcoin is that it’s simple, with fewer things that can go wrong.
In this DEFI project, you can earn “really” good money, and I would feel guilty if I didn’t share it. You can learn more about this DEFI project by clicking on the link HERE.
Lastly, crypto is risky and exciting.
It’s not a bad idea to diversify, and a wonderful idea is affiliate marketing.
You can do it anywhere, anytime, around a busy schedule, in any niche you’re interested in, have tons of fun, and even with no or low startup cost.
I’ve been at it for 15 years, and I share all my secrets in a few FREE guides HERE.
I hope this blog post on is Ethereum and Ethereum 2.0 the same was helpful to you. Bye for now.