Ethereum officially turns 10 years old on July 30, 2025. It began as a visionary proposal by Vitalik Buterin in late 2013 and has evolved into the world's most important smart contract blockchain, laying the foundation for DeFi, NFTs, DAOs, and more.
In this article, we will look back at the events, technical breakthroughs, and the most significant milestones in the market during Ethereum's journey — from its launch to the ever-evolving context of Ethereum 2.0 today.
📅 Ethereum Timeline: Important Milestones by Year and Month
Below is a year-by-year, month-by-month breakdown of Ethereum's most significant achievements — 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 held its ICO, raising over 31,000 BTC (approximately $18 million).
2015
July 30, 2015: Ethereum officially launched with the Frontier version.
ETH traded at around $0.75 in the early weeks of direct trading.
2016
March 2016: Ethereum deployed the Homestead upgrade (the first major network upgrade).
June 2016: The DAO exploit occurred, resulting in the loss of 3.6 million ETH.
July 2016: Ethereum underwent a controversial hard fork, resulting in the creation of Ethereum Classic (ETC).
ETH price reached $20 before the DAO hack, then fell.
2017
March 2017: The Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) was launched with Microsoft, JPMorgan, and many other companies.
June 2017: The ICO craze exploded on Ethereum; projects raised billions of dollars through ERC-20 tokens.
December 2017: ETH reached $826, marking its first significant price surge.
2018
January 13, 2018: ETH reached a new ATH of $1,420 during the peak of the crypto bull market.
Throughout 2018: DeFi concepts began to emerge, including MakerDAO and Compound.
2019
February 2019: The Constantinople upgrade introduced significant efficiency improvements.
December 2019: The development of ETH 2.0 accelerated with the release of the Beacon Chain testnet.
2020
March 2020: ETH dropped below $100 during the COVID crisis.
Summer 2020: The DeFi summer begins — Uniswap, Aave, Compound explode in usage.
December 1, 2020: The Beacon Chain of Ethereum 2.0 officially launched, marking Phase 0 of the ETH Proof of Stake roadmap.
2021
April–May 2021: NFTs gained popularity with projects like Bored Ape Yacht Club launching.
May 12, 2021: ETH reached a new ATH of $4,362.
August 5, 2021: EIP-1559 launched with the London upgrade, introducing base fee pricing.
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 took place — Ethereum officially transitioned from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake. A significant milestone for the environment.
ETH price around $1,600 at the time of the merge.
2023
April 12, 2023: The Shanghai upgrade allows for ETH deposits to be canceled, completing Phase 1 of Ethereum 2.0.
ETH Price: At one point reached $2,100 post-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 hits record levels, ETH fees remain steady despite high demand.
ETH Price: Surged past $3,700 amid a general bull market.
2025
May 2025: The Ethereum developer community finalizes plans 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 bull cycle.
🎉 The Legacy of Ethereum After 10 Years
Ethereum has not only weathered the harsh cycles of the cryptocurrency market but has also led through innovation. It has pioneered smart contracts, decentralized finance, NFTs, and a roadmap focused on integrating Web3.
The network transitioned from a Proof-of-Work model to a scalable Proof-of-Stake model, burning millions of ETH, reducing issuance, and evolving towards a modular architecture.
With Ethereum's 10th birthday, the next decade could witness the scaling of ZK-rollups, mainstream cryptography, AI x blockchain integration, and even the narrative of deflationary ETH becoming the norm.