History of Ethereum in Timeline

Ethereum is a decentralized, open-source blockchain platform distinguished by its smart contract functionality and its native cryptocurrency, Ether (ETH). ETH is second only to Bitcoin in market capitalization among cryptocurrencies. Ethereum allows developers to build and deploy decentralized applications (dApps).

December 2013: Initial Ethereum Founders Identified

In December 2013, the initial five founders of Ethereum were identified as Vitalik Buterin, Anthony Di Iorio, Charles Hoskinson, Mihai Alisie, and Amir Chetrit. This marked the foundation of the team that would bring Ethereum to life.

2013: Ethereum White Paper Proposed by Vitalik Buterin

In 2013, Vitalik Buterin initially described Ethereum in a white paper, outlining a way to build decentralized applications. He argued that blockchain technology could extend beyond just money and needed a more robust language for application development.

January 2014: Ethereum Announced at North American Bitcoin Conference

In January 2014, Ethereum was officially announced at the North American Bitcoin Conference in Miami. Founders gathered to further develop the vision for Ethereum, marking a pivotal moment in the project's early stages.

August 2014: Ethereum Crowd Sale Concludes

In August 2014, the online public crowd sale for Ethereum concluded. Participants purchased the Ethereum value token (ether) with bitcoin, which funded the development of the platform.

2014: Additional Founders Join Ethereum Project

In early 2014, Joseph Lubin, Gavin Wood, and Jeffrey Wilcke were added as founders to the Ethereum project, expanding the core team responsible for its development.

2014: Ethereum Prototypes Developed

Over 18 months in 2014 and 2015, the Ethereum Foundation developed several codenamed prototypes as part of their proof-of-concept series, leading up to the "Olympic" prototype and public beta pre-release.

July 2015: Ethereum Network Launch

In July 2015, the Ethereum network went live, marking a significant milestone in the project's history. This launch allowed for the deployment of decentralized applications and the use of smart contracts, opening new possibilities for blockchain technology.

October 2015: Etheria, First NFT Project, Deployed

In October 2015, Etheria, the first NFT project featuring a 3D map of tradable tiles, was deployed to the Ethereum network, showcasing the early potential for non-fungible tokens on the platform.

November 2015: ERC-20 Token Standard Proposed

In November 2015, Fabian Vogelsteller proposed the ERC-20 (Ethereum Request-for-Comments #20) Token Standard, which allows for fungible tokens on the Ethereum blockchain. This standard provides an API for tokens within smart contracts.

January 2016: Ethereum's Average Transaction Throughput

As of January 2016, Ethereum averaged about 25 transactions per second, a rate that remained unchanged after the move to proof-of-stake.

June 2016: The DAO Exploitation and Ethereum Fork

In June 2016, The DAO, a decentralized autonomous organization built on Ethereum, was exploited, resulting in the theft of US$50 million in DAO tokens. This led to a contentious "hard fork" of Ethereum, creating Ethereum and Ethereum Classic.

2016: The DAO Attack Highlights Smart Contract Vulnerabilities

The 2016 attack on The DAO exposed the risk of using smart contracts on a public blockchain. Bugs and security holes were visible to all but couldn't be quickly fixed, leading to significant financial losses.

March 2017: Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) Created

In March 2017, various blockchain startups, research groups, and Fortune 500 companies announced the creation of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) with 30 founding members.

May 2017: EEA Membership Reaches 116 Enterprises

By May 2017, the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) had grown to include 116 enterprise members, including companies like ConsenSys, CME Group, Microsoft, and J. P. Morgan.

July 2017: EEA Membership Exceeds 150

By July 2017, the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) had grown to include over 150 members, with new additions such as MasterCard and Cisco Systems.

2017: CryptoKitties Launched on Ethereum

In 2017, CryptoKitties, a blockchain game featuring digital cat artwork as NFTs, was launched on the Ethereum network, gaining mainstream media attention and highlighting scalability concerns due to network capacity consumption.

2017: Network Congestion Problems related to CryptoKitties

In 2017, the Ethereum network faced congestion problems, notably in relation to the popularity of CryptoKitties.

January 2018: Ether Second-Largest Cryptocurrency

By January 2018, ether was the second-largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization, trailing only behind bitcoin. This position reflected Ethereum's growing prominence in the cryptocurrency market.

January 2018: ERC-721 NFT Standard Introduced

In January 2018, the ERC-721: Non-Fungible Token Standard, the first official NFT standard on Ethereum, was published. This standardization allowed Ethereum to become central to a multi-billion dollar digital collectibles market.

2019: Virgil Griffith Arrested for North Korea Presentation

In 2019, Ethereum Foundation employee Virgil Griffith was arrested by the US government for presenting at a blockchain conference in North Korea, leading to legal repercussions.

2019: CFTC Chairman Heath Tarbert Declares ETH as a Commodity

In 2019, former CFTC Chairman Heath Tarbert stated that "ETH is a commodity", asserting the CFTC's regulatory authority over Ethereum. Subsequent leadership maintained this position.

October 2020: DeFi Protocols Reach $11 Billion Investment

As of October 2020, over US$11 billion was invested in various DeFi protocols on Ethereum. Additionally, DeFi protocols allowed synthetic versions of assets like bitcoin and gold to be tradeable on Ethereum.

March 2021: Visa Settles Stablecoin Transactions Using Ethereum

In March 2021, Visa Inc. announced that it began settling stablecoin transactions using the Ethereum blockchain, marking a significant step in integrating cryptocurrency into traditional financial systems.

April 2021: ConsenSys Receives $65 Million Investment

In April 2021, JP Morgan Chase, UBS, and MasterCard invested US$65 million into ConsenSys, a software development firm building Ethereum-related infrastructure, highlighting institutional interest in the platform.

April 2021: "Berlin" Network Upgrade Implemented

On April 14, 2021, the "Berlin" network upgrade was implemented on the Ethereum blockchain, introducing various improvements and optimizations to the network's functionality.

August 2021: Ethereum Blockchain Experiences Brief Fork

On August 27, 2021, the Ethereum blockchain experienced a brief fork due to clients running different incompatible software versions, underscoring the importance of network consensus.

2021: Ether Continues as Second-Largest Cryptocurrency

As of 2021, ether maintained its position as the second-largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization, reinforcing its established role in the digital asset landscape.

2021: Virgil Griffith Pleads Guilty

In 2021, Virgil Griffith pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, related to his presentation in North Korea.

September 2022: Ethereum Completes "The Merge" to Proof-of-Stake

On September 15, 2022, Ethereum successfully transitioned its consensus mechanism from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS) through an update known as "The Merge". This significantly reduced the blockchain's energy consumption by over 99%.

2022: Amendments to the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC)

In 2022, Amendments to the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) introduced "controllable electronic records" (CERs) as a new category of personal property that includes digital assets like Ether.

March 2024: "Dencun" Upgrade Goes Live

On March 13, 2024, the "Dencun" set of upgrades went live, including EIP-4844 (Proto-Danksharding). This introduced "blobs" for general-purpose data-availability, significantly reducing costs for Ethereum Layer 2 (L2) networks.

2024: New Leadership Announced for EEA

In 2024, Paul Brody from EY was announced as the new chairperson of the EEA, with Karen Scarbrough from Microsoft as the new executive director. Vanessa Grellet also joined as a new board member.

March 2025: Ethereum's Maximum Theoretical Throughput

In March 2025, Ethereum's maximum theoretical throughput is 142 transactions per second (TPS), given its current 36 million gas limit, 12-second blocks, and 21,000 gas cost for ETH transfers.

May 2025: "Pectra" Update Launched

On May 7, 2025, the Prague-Electra ("Pectra") update was launched. It brought various updates, including EIP-7251, which increases the staking amount per validator from exactly 32 ETH to anywhere between 32 ETH to 2048 ETH, and EIP-7702, which allows for the EOA addresses to use functionality from a smart contract.