Ethereum Turns 10: EVERYTHING You Might Have Missed Since 2015

Ethereum officially turned 10 years old on July 30, 2025. What began as a visionary proposal by Vitalik Buterin in late 2013 evolved into the world’s most significant smart contract blockchain, laying the foundation for DeFi, NFTs, DAOs, and beyond.

In this article, we take a look back at the most important events, technical breakthroughs, and market milestones in Ethereum’s journey — from its launch to today’s ever-evolving Ethereum 2.0 landscape.

📅 Ethereum's Timeline: Major Milestones by Year and Month

Here’s a year-by-year, month-by-month breakdown of Ethereum’s most important achievements — covering network launches, forks, protocol upgrades, and all-time highs.

2013

Nov 2013: Vitalik Buterin publishes the Ethereum whitepaper outlining a decentralised platform supporting smart contracts.

2014

Jan 2014: Ethereum is officially announced at the North American Bitcoin Conference.

2015

July 30, 2015: Ethereum officially launches with the Frontier version.

ETH trades around $0.75 during the first weeks of live trading.

2016

Mar 2016: Ethereum rolls out the Homestead upgrade (first major network upgrade).

Jun 2016: The DAO exploit occurs, draining 3.6M ETH.

Jul 2016: Ethereum undergoes a controversial hard fork, leading to the creation of Ethereum Classic (ETC).

ETH reaches $20 before the DAO hack, then drops.

2017

Mar 2017: Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) is launched with Microsoft, JPMorgan, and others.

Dec 2017: ETH hits $826, marking its first major price run-up.

2018

Jan 13, 2018: ETH hits a new ATH of $1,420 during the peak of the crypto bull market.

Throughout 2018: DeFi concepts begin surfacing, including MakerDAO and Compound.

2019

Feb 2019: Constantinople upgrade adds key efficiency improvements.

Dec 2019: ETH 2.0 development gains pace with the release of the Beacon Chain testnet.

2020

Mar 2020: ETH drops below $100 during the COVID crash.

Summer 2020: DeFi Summer kicks off — Uniswap, Aave, Compound explode in usage.

Dec 1, 2020: Ethereum 2.0 Beacon Chain goes live, marking Phase 0 of the ETH Proof-of-Stake roadmap.

2021

Apr–May 2021: NFTs go mainstream, with projects like Bored Ape Yacht Club launching.

May 12, 2021: ETH hits a new ATH of $4,362.

Aug 5, 2021: EIP-1559 launches with London upgrade, introducing base fee burns.

Nov 10, 2021: ETH hits its final bull market ATH of $4,878.

ETH/USD chart showing Ethereum reach its ATH in 2021 - TradingView

2022

June 2022: Ethereum testnets begin successful merges ahead of The Merge.

Sep 15, 2022: The Merge happens — Ethereum officially transitions from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake . Massive environmental milestone.

ETH price around $1,600 at the time of merge.

2023

Apr 12, 2023: Shanghai Upgrade enables ETH unstaking, completing Phase 1 of Ethereum 2.0.

ETH price: Briefly touches $2,100 post-upgrade.

Rollups, L2s like Arbitrum, Optimism, and zkSync take centre stage.

2024

Q1 2024: Ethereum ecosystem fuels modular blockchain narrative — EigenLayer and restaking rise.

May 2024: L2 activity sets records, ETH fees stabilize despite high demand.

ETH price: Surges past $3,700 amid broader market rally.

2025

May 2025: Ethereum developer community finalises plans for Verkle Trees and Proto-Danksharding.

Jul 30, 2025: Ethereum turns 10. A decade of open-source innovation and financial revolution.

ETH currently trading near $3,300–3,500, showing resilience ahead of the next bull cycle.

🎉 Ethereum’s Legacy After 10 Years

Ethereum didn’t just survive the crypto market's brutal cycles — it led through innovation. It birthed smart contracts, decentralised finance, NFTs, and the rollup-centric roadmap of Web3.

The network has shifted from Proof-of-Work to a scalable Proof-of-Stake model, burned millions in ETH, reduced issuance, and evolved toward modular architecture.

With Ethereum’s 10th birthday now in the books, the next decade could bring scalable ZK-rollups, mainstream tokenization, AI x blockchain integrations, and even a deflationary ETH narrative becoming the norm.