Ethereum Turns 10: EVERYTHING You Might Have Missed Since 2015

Ethereum officially turns 10 years old on July 30, 2025. Starting as a visionary proposal by Vitalik Buterin at the end of 2013, it has evolved into the world's most important smart contracts blockchain, laying the foundation for DeFi, NFT, DAO, and much more. In this article, we will take a look back at the events, technical breakthroughs, and the most important milestones in the market during the journey of Ethereum — from its launch to the ever-evolving context of Ethereum 2.0 as it is today. 📅 Timeline of Ethereum: Important Milestones by Year and Month Below is a year-by-year, month-by-month analysis of the most important achievements of Ethereum — including network launches, forks, protocol upgrades, and all-time highs. 2013 November 2013: Vitalik Buterin published the Ethereum white paper outlining a decentralized platform supporting smart contracts. 2014 January 2014: Ethereum was officially announced at the North American Bitcoin Conference. July–August 2014: Ethereum organized an ICO, raising over 31,000 BTC ( approximately 18 million dollars). 2015 July 30, 2015: Ethereum officially launched with the Frontier version. ETH traded at around $0.75 in the first few weeks of direct trading. 2016 March 2016: Ethereum deployed the Homestead upgrade (, the first major network upgrade ). June 2016: The DAO vulnerability occurred, resulting in the loss of 3.6 million Ether. July 2016: Ethereum underwent a controversial hard fork, leading to the creation of Ethereum Classic (ETC). The price of ETH reached 20 dollars before the DAO hack, then it dropped. 2017 March 2017: The Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) was launched with Microsoft, JPMorgan, and many other companies. June 2017: The ICO boom exploded on Ethereum; projects raised billions of dollars through ERC-20 tokens. December 2017: ETH reached 826 dollars, marking the first major price increase. 2018 January 13, 2018: ETH reached a new ATH of $1,420 during the peak of the cryptocurrency bull market. Throughout 2018: DeFi concepts began to emerge, including MakerDAO and Compound. 2019 February 2019: The Constantinople upgrade introduced significant improvements in efficiency. December 2019: The development of ETH 2.0 accelerated with the release of the Beacon Chain testnet. 2020 March 2020: ETH fell below $100 during the COVID crisis. Summer 2020: The DeFi summer begins — Uniswap, Aave, Compound explode in usage. December 1, 2020: The Ethereum 2.0 Beacon Chain officially went live, marking Phase 0 of the ETH Proof of Stake roadmap. 2021 April–May 2021: NFTs became popular with projects like Bored Ape Yacht Club launching. On May 12, 2021: ETH reached a new ATH of 4,362 dollars. August 5, 2021: EIP-1559 was launched with the London upgrade, introducing a base fee. On November 10, 2021: ETH reached its final ATH of the bull market at $4,878.

2022 June 2022: The Ethereum testnet successfully began merging ahead of The Merge event. September 15, 2022: The merge occurs — Ethereum officially transitions from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake. An important milestone for the environment. The price of ETH is around 1,600 dollars at the time of the merger. 2023 April 12, 2023: The Shanghai upgrade allows for the withdrawal of ETH, completing Phase 1 of Ethereum 2.0. ETH price: At one point reached 2,100 dollars after the upgrade. Rollup services, L2s like Arbitrum, Optimism, and zkSync play a central role. 2024 Q1 2024: The Ethereum ecosystem drives the modular blockchain narrative — EigenLayer and the rise of restaking. May 2024: L2 activity sets records, ETH fees remain stable despite high demand. ETH price: Soared past $3,700 amid a bullish market. 2025 May 2025: The Ethereum developer community finalizes the plan for Verkle Trees and Proto-Danksharding. July 30, 2025: Ethereum turns 10 years old. A decade of open-source innovation and financial revolution. ETH is currently trading around $3,300–$3,500, showing resilience ahead of the next bullish cycle. 🎉 The Legacy of Ethereum After 10 Years Ethereum has not only survived the harsh cycles of the cryptocurrency market but has also led through innovation. It has birthed smart contracts, decentralized finance, NFT, and a roadmap focused on the integration of Web3. The network has transitioned from a Proof-of-Work model to a scalable Proof-of-Stake model, burning millions of ETH, reducing issuance, and developing towards a modular architecture. With the 10th birthday of Ethereum, the next decade may witness the scaling of ZK-rollup, mainstream encryption, AI x blockchain integration, and even the story of deflationary ETH becoming the norm.