In the Ethereum blockchain, an account is a container that stores a balance of Ether (ETH), the native cryptocurrency of Ethereum, and can also hold smart contracts.An Ethereum account is an entity with an ether balance that can send or receive transcations on ethereum blockchain.
An Ethereum account is identified by address, which is a long string of characters like this: "0x1234567890abcdef". An Ethereum address is unique, and it is used to send and receive transactions on the Ethereum blockchain.
There are two types of accounts in Ethereum:
External accounts: These are controlled by private keys, and are owned by people or organizations. External accounts can send transactions to other accounts, execute smart contracts, and transfer Ether. External accounts can be created using a wallet application, such as MetaMask or MyEtherWallet. These wallets generate a private key, which is a long string of characters that is used to sign transactions and prove ownership of the account. It is important to keep the private key secure, as anyone who has access to it can control the account and its funds.
Contract accounts: These are created and controlled by smart contracts, and are owned by the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). Contract accounts can execute code and store data, but they cannot initiate transactions or hold Ether.
Contract accounts are created when a smart contract is deployed to the Ethereum blockchain. Smart contracts are self-executing contracts with the terms of the agreement between buyer and seller being directly written into lines of code. The code and the agreements contained therein exist on the Ethereum blockchain.
