While the cryptocurrency market was still anxious about Bitcoin's halving and sideways trading, Ethereum ignited the entire crypto circle's hormones with a 'Ten-Year Torch'! On July 21, the Ethereum Foundation suddenly announced that on July 30, the anniversary of the genesis block, it would launch 'The Torch' NFT and open public airdrop minting to global users for the first time.

One, the Ten-Year Torch: a carefully planned 'on-chain power transfer'

According to official disclosures, 'The Torch' NFT is not an ordinary souvenir, but a 'digital spark' that carries the spirit of Ethereum's ten years. From July 21 to 30, this NFT will be symbolically passed among the wallets of core developers, artists, and institutions worldwide, and will be publicly destroyed at the moment of the tenth anniversary on July 30, simultaneously launching a public airdrop minting.
This design hides a secret:

  1. Symbol of Power: The route of the Torch relay covers key nodes such as Vitalik Buterin, ConsenSys, and core members of the Ethereum Foundation, implying a power transfer in the Ethereum ecosystem from geek experimentation to global infrastructure;

  2. Destruction Mechanism: After the main NFT is destroyed, the NFTs airdropped to the public will adopt a dynamic scarcity model, with the minting quantity fluctuating with the ETH price, forming a positive cycle of 'the higher the price, the scarcer the NFT';

  3. On-chain Social: Users must prove their ETH holding duration through Soulbound Tokens (SBT) to prevent bots from inflating numbers and ensure the airdrop accurately reaches 'true believers'.

Two, ETH price may welcome a 'ten-year narrative' catalyst

The market has voted with real money: after the news was announced, ETH briefly broke through $3800, hitting a new high for 2025. Institutional analysis points out three major logics supporting ETH's push towards $5000:

  1. Airdrop Economic Model: The public airdrop will require gas fees, expected to consume over 100,000 ETH, directly reducing circulating supply;

  2. NFT Financialization: The Torch NFT will support fragmented trading, attracting traditional financial capital to enter the market, referencing the case of CryptoPunks, which saw its market value soar 10 times after fragmentation;

  3. Ten-Year Narrative: When Ethereum went live on July 30, 2015, the price of ETH was only $0.75, and the wealth effect of a 5000 times surge over ten years will stimulate a concentrated explosion of FOMO sentiment.

Three, the ecological landscape of the crypto circle may be rewritten

Behind this carnival, Ethereum is playing a big game:

  • A dimensional blow to Layer 2: The Torch NFT will require all derivative platforms (such as Base, Optimism) to support cross-chain minting, accelerating the integration of 'Ethereum mainnet + Layer 2' ecology;

  • A precise strike against Solana: On July 18, Solana announced that NFT trading volume had decreased by 30% month-on-month, while Ethereum's on-chain NFT trading volume increased by 10%. The launch of the Torch NFT may completely put an end to the doubts that 'Ethereum is old';

  • A gentle rebellion against regulation: By binding real users with SBT, Ethereum has taken a key step on the path to compliance, clearing obstacles for ETH ETF approval.

Four, how can retail investors seize this wave of dividends?

  1. Airdrop Strategy: Wallet addresses holding more than 0.1 ETH before July 25 will have priority for minting qualifications;

  2. Gas Fee Arbitrage: It is expected that on July 30 at 23:00 (the exact time of the genesis block), gas fees will surge above 500 Gwei, and miners can position themselves in advance;

  3. NFT Secondary Market: The fragmented trading of the Torch NFT is expected to launch in August, referencing the case where the floor price of BAYC rose from 15 ETH to 150 ETH after fragmentation, early holders may enjoy a hundredfold return.


    When Vitalik Buterin wrote the Ethereum white paper in 2013, he may not have thought that ten years later, an NFT could unite the faith of global developers, and a token could carry the dream of a trillion-dollar market value. July 30 is not only Ethereum's birthday but could also be the starting point for the next bull market in cryptocurrency.
    At this moment, the ETH in your hand is not just code; it is a ticket to the future.

The market has risks, and investments should be cautious. Follow me to unlock more on-chain wealth codes! #以太坊十周年