A grander dream

In late July 2015, Ethereum was born. Unlike Bitcoin, which only aims to be 'digital gold', it harbors a bigger dream: to become a globally shared 'world computer' — where anyone can program and develop applications, completely decentralized.

Ten years have passed in the blink of an eye, and Ethereum has truly changed many things: finance, culture, internet applications... Of course, this process has not been easy. It has gone through crises, dramatic rises and falls, and many technical debates. And now, it stands at a new starting point.

In August of this year, the price of Ethereum broke through $4,900, continuously creating new highs. This is not only due to improved market sentiment but also because the technology and ecosystem it has accumulated over the past decade have truly begun to bear fruit.

1. What level is Ethereum at among global assets?

Based on market cap, Ethereum is now a 'behemoth' level asset.

The total market capitalization is about $520.5 billion, ranking 22nd among all global assets (including major companies like Apple and Google, as well as gold and Bitcoin).

It has surpassed well-known international companies like Mastercard and Netflix.

Although it remains firmly in second place among cryptocurrencies, far behind Bitcoin (with a market cap of $2.37 trillion), it has reached about 22% of Bitcoin's market capitalization.

Remarkably, it squeezed into the global top asset club in just ten years, growing at an astonishing speed.

2. A Decade in Review: From Technical Dreams to Value Recognition

Phase One: Ideals and Beginnings (2015-2017)

When it first launched in 2015, ETH was only $0.43, and very few people understood what 'smart contracts' meant.

In 2016, it encountered a hacking incident (The DAO), leading to a sharp price drop and community split, but ultimately it weathered the storm.

In 2017, the ICO boom led many projects to issue tokens on Ethereum, with the price of ETH skyrocketing from $8 to over $700, an increase of more than 87 times.

Phase Two: Quietly Building During the Winter (2018-2020)

In 2018, the market cooled down, and ETH plummeted by 94%, reaching a low of $85.

But the ecosystem hasn't stopped: DeFi (decentralized finance) quietly began to sprout during this time, with applications like Uniswap and Compound starting to emerge.

Technically, it has been preparing to transition from PoW (energy-intensive mining) to PoS (proof of stake).

Phase Three: DeFi and Institutional Involvement (2020-2021)

In 2020, the 'DeFi Summer' arrived, with on-chain lending and trading experiencing explosive growth, leading to a surge in ETH demand.

In 2021, NFTs gained mainstream attention, and more people began buying and selling digital collectibles with ETH.

In the same year, EIP-1559 was implemented, burning a little ETH with each transaction, giving it deflationary properties for the first time.

In November 2021, ETH surged to a historical high of $4,878, and institutions began buying in large quantities.

Phase Four: Bear Market and Major Upgrades (2022-2023)

In 2022, the market cooled again, but Ethereum accomplished something significant: it completed 'The Merge', fully transitioning to PoS, reducing energy consumption by 99%.

3. What happened behind the price?

If we look at the prices over the past few years:

2023: The first half was stable ($1,500-$2,000), the second half began to rise, reaching $2,281 by the end of the year.

2024: Prices surged even more, reaching $3,600 in March and breaking $4,000 in November.

2025: At the beginning of the year, $3,300, with a significant drop to just over $1,700 in between, but then a strong rebound, breaking through $4,700 in August.

Transaction volume is also increasing, indicating that more and more people are getting involved.

4. Why can it challenge new highs now?

Four main reasons:

1. Spot ETF expectations: Financial giants like BlackRock and Fidelity are applying for Ethereum ETFs, which, if approved, would bring in massive amounts of traditional capital.

2. Deflationary mechanism takes effect: Because each transaction burns a little ETH, over 4 million coins have been net destroyed, making it increasingly scarce.

3. Layer 2 ecosystem explosion: Layer 2 networks like Arbitrum and Optimism have greatly reduced transaction costs, leading to an increasingly rich ecosystem of applications (DeFi, gaming, social).

4. Institutions begin to allocate: Many companies are starting to treat ETH as a reserve asset, not only betting on price increases but also staking it for yield — which reduces market selling pressure.

From $0.43 in 2015 to today, it has increased more than ten thousand times. But this is not just a victory of price; it is also a recognition of its value by more and more people: it is no longer just an experiment but has truly become the infrastructure for open finance and the next generation of the internet.

Higher new highs may come soon, but for Ethereum, this is just a new beginning. The road ahead is long, but it is steadily moving towards the dream of a 'world computer'.