AE coin is the foundational token of Aeternity, a blockchain platform focused on high-bandwidth transactions, pure functional smart contracts and a decentralized Oracle. Founded in 2017, it aims to address inefficiencies in the crypto market by improving the scalability of smart contracts and DApps, sharding and off-chain contract execution.

Aeternity's Turing fully smart contract on the chain allows transactions to take place without a third party or intermediary, and Aeternity can also use national channels for off-chain smart contract settlement, although this settlement only reaches out to the blockchain in the event of a contract dispute, acting as a self-arbitrating crypto court.